JOLIET, Ill. --- A nightmarish seventh inning spelled defeat for the University of St. Francis baseball team as it opened the 2021 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Tournament with a 13-10 setback to Indiana University South Bend on Friday morning at DuPage Medical Group Field.
The No. 5-seeded Saints in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament led 5-1 after five innings and 5-3 after six before No. 4 Indiana South Bend sent 14 runners to the plate in the seventh inning resulting in ten runs and a 13-5 lead. Each of the first 11 Titan batters reached base safely in the fateful inning via seven singles and four walks.
Walks were a problem all day for St. Francis (21-19) with four of its five pitchers combining to provide 12 free passes, while also hitting one batter. In all, five of those baserunners would eventually cross the plate. USF also committed four errors in the contest leading to three runs being unearned.
The loss offset a strong offensive showing by the Saints, who had eight batters hit safely in the contest with five boasting multiple hits. For the day, USF outhit Indiana South Bend 15-9. The Titans (24-22) actually did not record their first hit of the game until one out into the sixth inning, the same frame in which they touched up Saint starter Angel Sandoval (SR/Grand Ridge, Ill.) for two runs to make it a 5-3 game.
Travis Schoonover (GR/Braidwood, Ill.) had the biggest day of all Saints in the lineup going 3-for-5 with four runs batted in and two runs scored. He both started the scoring and tried to get USF back in the contest late with a pair of extra-base hits.
Both Schoonover and Noah Kararo (GR/Oswego, Ill.) (3-for-5) doubled in the second inning to jump start the Saints to a 2-0 lead. After Indiana South Bend picked up the first of its three unearned runs in the third inning to cut the deficit in half, Joe McGuire (SR/Lockport, Ill.) (2-for-5) added another run-scoring double for USF before Foster Heise (GR/Lisle, Ill.) (2-for-4), and Jake LaSota (JR/Marengo, Ill.) (2-for-5) provided RBI singles to build the lead back up to 5-1.
One half-inning after IUSB's eruption, Schoonover started a five-run rally with a three-run home run to right field in the top of the eighth inning. McGuire and Heise also delivered run-scoring hits for the second time on the day, but the three-run difference would be the closest the Saints would get the rest of the day.
Ryan Daly (FR/Plainfield, Ill.) (2-4) suffered the defeat in relief for USF.
With the loss, the Saints move into the elimination bracket where they will face the loser of the Olivet Nazarene University-Trinity Christian College contest, which is slated for 8 pm Friday night.
