PHILADELPHIA -- Junior 1B Zach Saunders (Adelphi, Md.) rapped a tie-breaking home run in the top of the eighth, giving the Cougars baseball squad a 7-6 extra-inning win in game one and split of its twin-bill at CACC foe Chestnut Hill on Sunday. The Griffins took game two, 6-2.

In the opener, Saunders lifted a drive to right center, breaking a 6-6 tie and making a winner of senior righthander Connor Woods (Bethlehem, N.J.) (1-0), who pitched two innings in relief of freshman righty John Rigas (Lincoln Park, N.J.).Rigas permitted just two earned runs and fanned eight in six solid innings. Woods induced a double play grounder to freshman second baseman Stephen Young Jr. (Middlesex, N.J.) to end the game.

Caldwell (7-11, 1-4) jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the fifth on the strength of RBI hits by soph LF Liam Lombardi (Stony Point, N.Y.) and freshman 3B Michael Cruz (Miami) in the second, Young in the third and home runs by Young in the fourth and junior RF Noah Putney (Glassboro, N.J.) in the fifth. After the hosts rallied, Saunders's heroics gave the Cougars their first CACC win of the season.

In the nightcap, the Griffins (7-14, 1-2) rode a strong pitching outing that kept Caldwell at bay and a seven-hit effort to the triumph. Cruz had two doubles and sacrifice flies by Lombardi in the fifth and Cruz in the seventh drove in the two Cougars tallies.

Caldwell returns to action on Tuesday, when they host CACC foe Post in a single game at 3 p.m. at Kiwanis Oval, continuing the split series in Waterbury, Conn., on Saturday with a doubleheader.