JOLIET, Ill. --- For the second day in a row, the University of St. Francis baseball team gained a split of its doubleheader with Viterbo University winning the first game 3-1 before falling in the nightcap by a 10-4 score on Sunday afternoon at DuPage Medical Group Field.
Right fielder Travis Schoonover (GR/Braidwood, Ill.) accounted for better than half of USF's offense on the day, driving in four of the team's seven runs with a pair of RBI in each end of the twinbill. Center fielder Dolan Nicholson (SR/Denton, Texas) registered a team-high three hits.
Freshmen John Weis (Lockport, Ill.) and Sam Pileggi (Plainfield, Ill.) threw well as bookends to the day's activities with Weis starting Game 1 and Pileggi closing out Game 2 with both being unscored on.
Game 1 --- USF 4, Viterbo 1
Schoonover's two-run double broke a scoreless tie in the third inning and shortstop Noah Kararo (GR/Oswego, Ill.) followed with a run-scoring single to account for all of USF's scoring. The Saints also recorded five of their six hits for the game in that frame.
Weis got the pitching staff off on the right foot, tossing three scoreless innings in his first collegiate start. He allowed only two hits, while striking out two.
Sean Herbert (GR/Riverside, Ill.) (1-0), who earned his Bachelor's degree from Viterbo, tossed the next inning and two-thirds to earn the win against his former team.
Nick Villasenor (SR/Addison, Ill.) closed things out for his first save of the season. He fell one out short of combining on a shutout, working the final two and one-third innings.
Game 2 --- Viterbo 10, USF 4
In the nightcap, the Saints had their chances, but could not come up with the clutch hits. They left two runners on base in five of the seven innings and the bases loaded once for a total of 14 runners stranded for the game. Viterbo also left eight runners on base creating for the two-hour, 42-minute, seven-inning affair.
Viterbo (3-7) scored in four of the first five innings capped by a four-run fifth inning, where Cole Benson cleared the bases with his double.
Schoonover drove in a pair of runs for the second straight game. Designated hitter Luke Ketchum (GR/Springfield, Ill.) produced the Saints' third run on their second home run of the season with a solo blast off the left center field scoreboard in the fifth inning.
Third baseman Ryan Daly (FR/Plainfield, Ill.) and Nicholson each had two hits for USF.
Sean Michalak (FR/New Lenox, Ill.) (0-1) suffered the loss in his first collegiate start.
Pileggi pitched well out of the bullpen with four of his seven outs going for strikeouts. The only player to reach base off him did so on a walk.
The Saints closed out the six-game, season-opening home stand with a 2-4 record. They hit the road for the first time in 2021 on Tuesday (March 9) when they face Mount Mercy University in a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 1 pm.
