JOLIET, Ill. --- The University of St. Francis baseball team had to breathe a sigh of relief not just once but twice before extending its winning streak to 11 games with its 3-2 and 9-7 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep of Roosevelt University on Saturday afternoon at DuPage Medical Group Field. The pair of wins also closed out a perfect 6-0 homestand for head coach Brian Michalak's club.
 

St. Francis (17-11, 15-7 CCAC) had to escape a first-and-third situation with no one out in Roosevelt's final at-bat in the opener and then a one-out, bases-loaded situation in the nightcap to continue to climb the league standings and move into a tie for third place.
 

Three separate three-run innings as well as the bats of first baseman Foster Heise (GR/Lisle, Ill.), left fielder Shawn Harper (GR/Plainfield, Ill.), and center fielder Luke Ketchum (GR/Springfield, Ill.) keyed the pair of victories. All three players provided multiple runs batted in, while shortstop Noah Kararo (GR/Oswego, Ill.) and designated hitter Eric Maffie (SO/Coal Valley, Ill.) collected the most hits with five each during the day.
 

Game 1 --- USF 3, Roosevelt 2

The Saints tallied all of their runs within the first four batters of the first game. Right fielder Travis Schoonover (GR/Braidwood, Ill.) opened with a single, followed by a double from Kararo. Third baseman Josh Tesch (GR/Lockport, Ill.) drove in the first run with his single before Heise's double down the left field line plated the final two runs.
 

Roosevelt responded with three doubles and a single in a two-run, five-batter sequence one half-inning later, but USF starter Angel Sandoval (SR/Garfield Ridge, Ill.) (3-4) was able to snare a line drive with runners at second and third base and only one out and turn it into an inning-ending double play.
 

The Lakers also had a runner at second base with only one out in the fifth inning and the previously-mentioned first-and-third situation in the seventh inning with Sandoval coming up clutch each time, including two crucial strikeouts, one of which ended the game.
 

Kararo and Maffie both went 3-for-3 at the plate.
 

Game 2 --- USF 9, Roosevelt 7

Trailing 2-0 early, the Saints bunched all of their runs together in the middle innings book-ended by three-run frames in the fourth and seventh innings. Second baseman Dolan Nicholson (SR/Denton, Texas) supplied three hits and three runs during that scoring bonanza, while Ketchum (2-for-2) drove in three runs and Harper (2-for-4) two.
 

First baseman Joe McGuire (SR/Lockport, Ill.) was also part of the 15-hit attack with his two singles as was Tesch with his fifth home run of the campaign. Kararo and Maffie supplied two more hits, as well, in Game 2.
 

Ryan Daly (FR/Plainfield, Ill.) went the first eight innings to get the win before the Saints made things interesting in the ninth inning with wildness (two walks, one hit batsman) and a pair of errors. That turned a 9-3 lead after eight innings into a tying-run-at-second-base situation with only one out in the ninth inning. Sam Pileggi (FR/Plainfield, Ill.) was able to stem the tide with a game-ending double play in earning his third save of the season.
 

The two teams wrap up the three-game weekend series on Sunday (April 18) at Ozinga Field in Crestwood. First pitch is 1 pm.