ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. – A three-run fourth inning was key in helping McDaniel forge a doubleheader split at St. Mary's (Md.) in non-conference baseball action on Sunday.

Patrick Christopher (Union Beach, N.J./St. John Vianney) rapped out a 5-for-8 day to lead the Green Terror (1-1), who notched an 8-4 victory in game two after the Seahawks (4-2) rallied for a 4-3 win in the opener. Christopher also had three RBIs in the nightcap.

Keith Johnson paced St. Mary's with four hits on the afternoon.

After the teams traded single runs in the second, McDaniel took the lead for good on a Marshall Betts (Berlin, Md./Stephen Decatur) sacrifice fly in the third.

In the second, Jimmy Najera (Fort Washington, Md./DeMatha) was hit by a pitch to lead off before advancing to second on a James Chiorello (East Windsor, N.J./Lawrenceville Prep) walk and to third on a ground out. Ricky LaSota (Burtonsville, Md./Paint Branch) followed with an RBI single for the 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Carlos Cruz and Nick Urso rapped out back-to-back singles to left field before Cruz was able to score on an Alex Lenovitz base knock to right field.

In the third, Brandon Hayward (Salisbury, Md./J.M. Bennett) reached on a fielder's choice before advancing to third on a Christopher single and scoring on the Betts sacrifice fly.

An inning later, Chris Longo (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe Woodbury) led off with a double before scoring on a LaSota single.

PJ Anderson (Falls Church, Va./George Mason) drew a walk before a fly out and error put LaSota at third and Anderson at second.

Hayward was hit by a pitch to load the bases before Christopher knocked in Anderson and Hayward with a single to right, stretching the lead to 5-1.

A two-out error in the sixth extended the inning, allowing McDaniel to tack on two more runs.

Hayward and Christopher put together consecutive singles after the error before Betts also reached on an error that allowed Hayward to score for a 7-1 lead.

Mike Schmidt led off the bottom of the inning with a single before advancing to second on a passed ball.

An Urso single and Lenovitz walk loaded the bases.

After a strikeout, an error allowed John Stewart to reach and Schmidt to score before an Eric Gronbeck RBI groundout plated Urso and trimmed the deficit to 7-3.

After Corey Napler drew a walk to reload the bases, Johnson singled to left, scoring Lenovitz.

Longo singled in the with one out in the seventh before scoring on a fielder's choice with two outs to set the final margin.

Longo and LaSota added two hits to Christopher's three-hit game. Chiorello pitched the first five innings, striking out five and allowing just one run to pick up the win. Mike Freeman (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) pitched the final 1 1/3 innings with two strikeouts to earn his first save.

Trailing 3-1 entering the bottom of the sixth in game one, Johnson led off with a double before scoring on a Zach Nadolny single.

After Nadolny gave way to pinch-runner Brad Dioguardo, Cruz followed with a single of his own that put runners at first and second.

An Urso single plated Dioguardo before a balk put runners at second and third with no outs.

A Lenovitz single scored Cruz for the lead but Urso was cut down at the plate before the Green Terror got a fly out and strikeout to get out of the inning.

A Tyler Jackow (Colonia, N.J./Colonia) one-out walk and Christopher two-out single put the go-ahead runners on base and chased starter Mike Victory after 6 2/3 innings and seven strikeouts.

Wick Eisenberg faced one batter and got the fly out for his first save of the season and gave Victory his second win of the season.

Second-inning singles from Johnson, Nadolny and Lenovitz around two of Danny Snight's (Silver Spring, Md./St. John's College Prep) five strikeouts staked St. Mary's to a 1-0 lead.

Christopher led off the visitor fourth with a bunt single before a Betts two-run blast turned the one-run deficit into a one-run lead.

With one out, Najera singled and Chiorello doubled to put runners at second and third for Longo, whose RBI groundout plated Najera for a 3-1 lead.

Christopher and Chiorello each had two hits in game one.

The Green Terror returns to action at Catholic on Tuesday. Game time is 3 p.m.

-30-

$website.include("/sports/bsb/2011-12/videos/20120226_christopher.flv")