AUBURNDALE, Fla. – La Roche baseball began play at the Russmatt Invitational on Tuesday, defeating Fitchburg State, 8-6.

Designated the home team, the Redhawks opened the scoring in the top of the first, when Josh Dreyer drove in Christian Melendez with an RBI single.

After two scoreless innings, Larry Bielawski upped the score to 2-0 with an RBI double in the fourth to plate Ricky Heyz.

Insurance runs came in the bottom of the fifth for the Redhawks, behind a Dreyer RBI double, who later scored on an error, as well as a sacrifice fly from Brandon Snyder, all moving the needle to a 5-0 lead.

The Falcons first runs scored came in the top of the seventh, brining home two on a pair of RBI singles to trim the deficit to 5-2.

La Roche responded immediately in the bottom of the seventh, driving in its final three runs of the night to propel the lead up to 8-2.

Damon Foster got the two runs scored by Fitchburg back on a two RBI single, then Christian Melendez drew a bases loaded walk for the third run of the inning.

The Falcons would make it interesting in the top of the eighth, clearing the bases on a three RBI triple, followed by an RBI single, but the Redhawks bullpen would shut the game down from there.

Jamison Rhoades got the start and took the victory, allowing just two hits, five walks and struck out four in six scoreless innings.

Samuel DiCicco threw 0.2 innings of relief, allowing two runs, three hits and one strikeout, followed by Aaron Exler, who allowed four runs, four hits, one walk and struck out one in 1+ inning of work.

Izaak Ogrodowczyk earned the save, allowing just one hit and fanned two, picking up the final four outs.

Offensively, La Roche scattered 10 hits, with Dreyer's 3-for-5 leading the way, followed by Gary and Foster with two hits apiece.

The Redhawks are quickly back in action with a doubleheader tomorrow, Mar. 12. An early bird special opens the day with a 9 a.m. first pitch against Bethel (Minn.), followed by a 12:30 p.m. matchup with Bowdoin.