ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- In a battle that was largely Mark Millon vs. Nate Watkins, Millon had the better supporting cast.

As a result, the Baltimore Bayhawks improved to 3-0, holding off the Rochester Rattlers for a 17-13 Major League Lacrosse victory last night.

Millon scored five goals and had three assists, including the final score to end a rally by the Rattlers that had brought them within three goals, as close as they had been since the first quarter.

And after Rochester finally found its scoring touch midway through the second quarter, it was Millon who put in two extra-man goals to keep the Bayhawks in command.

"Most of my goals are off guys finding me in transition, so they're not the toughest," Millon said, "but I think a couple of those goals in the second quarter, where it was getting pretty close, were important. And the last one just might have broken their momentum."

Watkins scored two of his four goals and had two of his three assists in the final period to keep Rochester close.

"It was a great debut for our fourth-round draft pick [from Syracuse]," said Rochester coach Guy Van Arsdale. "He was awesome tonight."

After defenseman Jarred Testa put the Bayhawks ahead 16-10 with his second goal of the night with 8:06 to play, Rochester scored three goals in a row. Watkins assisted on two of those. Once, he passed from behind the goal to Craig Kahoun; on the other, he fed Tim Soudan.

But with the score 16-13 and 1:27 to play, Millon splashed across a rain-soaked field in front of the goal and fired a low, left-handed shot past Rochester goalie Brian Dougherty.

"We talked about it after our game Thursday that we had to stay focused because it was a division game, and all three teams in our [Nationals] division are really good," said Millon.

Now, the Bayhawks have three wins against division opponents, including two in three nights.

Last night's game was scoreless for nearly 4 1/2 minutes, but then the Bayhawks struck. Gavin Prout, the former Loyola star who was a first-round draft pick, sidearmed the first goal into the top of the net past Dougherty with 10:32 to play in the first quarter.

The margin was 4-1 after the first quarter, but the Bayhawks stretched the lead to 7-1 2:06 into the second period. Jeff Sonke fired in a two-pointer, then just 38 seconds later Josh Sims put in his second goal of the game.

From that point through the end of the first half, the teams traded goals. Watkins put in his second of the game 39 seconds before halftime to make the score 10-5.

The Rattlers moved within 10-7 with two quick goals after halftime. However, goals by Sims, Prout and Millon around Matt Hahn's second score for Rochester restored the Bayhawks' five-goal lead at 13-8. Tom Marecheck then made it a six-goal advantage in the final second of the third quarter with his second score of the night.

The Bayhawks took their biggest lead at 15-8 when Millon fired in his fourth goal.

Bayhawks 4 6 4 3 -- 17

Rochester 1 4 3 5 -- 13

Goals: Bayhawks --Millon 5, Sims 3, Marecheck 2, Prout 2, Testa 2, Cantabene 1. Rochester -- Watkins 4, Fay 2, Hahn 2, Denihan 2, Kahoun 1, Bishko 1, Soudan 1. Two-point goal: Bayhawks -- Sonke 1. Assists: Bayhawks -- Millon 3, Marecheck 3, Blatchley 2, Radebaugh 1, Frye 1, Collins 1. Rochester -- Watkins 3, Hahn 2, Kahoun 1, Bishko 1, Bergey 1. Saves: Bayhawks Cattrano 4-3-4-4 - 15; Rochester, Dougherty 2-2-2-3 - 9. Shots: Bayhawks 6-7-6-6 - 25. Rochester 5-9-7-11 - 32. Penalties: Bayhawks 6-5:30. Rochester 6-5:00. Att: 5,017.