CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace men's lacrosse was defeated by NCAA Division I Cleveland State University by a score of 9-2 in the first game of the Sixth City Classic inside the Krenzler Dome.

BW (0-1) was led by two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference face off specialist Alex Fioritto (Akron/Walsh Jesuit) as he won 13 of the 15 face offs. Defensively, three-time All-OAC selection and OAC Defender of the Year Josiah Greve (Milford) tallied five ground balls and three caused turnovers.

Cleveland State (1-2) won its first game in its inaugural season. The Vikings were led by freshman attack Tristen Copeland and freshman goalkeeper Caleb Espinoza. Copeland scored a game-high four goals and Espinoza faced 22 shots, made 10 saves and only surrendered two goals.

The Vikings outscored the Yellow Jackets 5-0 in the first quarter led by freshman Copeland as he scored three of the five goals. Freshman attack Jack Frickleton and Jake Lewis also scored  in the first quarter for Cleveland State.

After another Copeland goal in the second quarter, the Yellow Jackets got on the board before halftime when freshman midfielder Riley Mahon (Palatine, Ill./Williams Fremd) netted his first career goal to cut the Cleveland State lead to 6-1.

In the third quarter each team scored one goal. BW struck first when junior midfielder Derek Andrews (Alden, N.Y./Iroquois) scored at the 14:05 mark to make the score 6-2. Freshman midfielder Ethan Peterson scored the lone goal for the Vikings with 3:02 left in the quarter giving them a 7-2 lead at the start of the fourth.

Cleveland State scored the only two goals in the fourth quarter. Frickleton scored his second goal of the game at the 7:31 mark and freshman midfielder Danny Tesler closed out the scoring with 1:29 left in the game.

BW is back in action tomorrow February 19 when they play Oberlin College in a non-conference game on day two of the Sixth City Classic hosted by Cleveland State inside the Krenzler Dome at 3 p.m.