JOLIET, Ill. --- Saint Xavier University dealt the University of St. Francis baseball team its first two losses of the season at Duly Health and Care Field with the Cougars' 8-2 and 9-2 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference victories on Monday afternoon. The Saints had come into the doubleheader sporting a perfect 4-0 mark at home.

Saint Xavier (22-4, 6-1 CCAC) put up three runs early in each of the two games and never looked back, limiting USF (7-18, 3-3) to just 11 hits on the day. Noah Kararo (3 hits) and John McGuire (2 hits) were the only Saints to register hits in each end of the twinbill.

Game 1: Saint Xavier 8, USF 2
Five of the first six batters reached base for Saint Xavier leading to a three run first inning. The Cougars would go on to add one run in the fourth inning to make it 4-0 before doubling their run production with four more tallies in the seventh inning.

Patrick Doran accounted for half of SXU's run production going 3 for 4 with four runs batted in and two runs scored. He delivered an RBI single in the first inning and a three run home run in the seventh inning.

The Saints avoided the shutout by getting their first two batters on base in the seventh inning before Liam Higgins and Alex Martinez drove them home on a groundout and a single, respectively. Prior to that inning, St. Francis never had a runner get beyond second base.

Kararo provided two of USF's five hits in the game.

Julian Vargas (5-0) went the distance for Saint Xavier.

Game 2: Saint Xavier 9, USF 2
Eric Maffie tied the game at one with his solo home run to centerfield in the bottom of the first inning, but Saint Xavier put up eight unanswered runs over the next five innings to coast to the 9-2 victory. The Cougars scored a pair of runs in the second inning as well as each of the middle three frames.

USF's only other run came in the bottom of the ninth inning on a Sam Tumilty double.

Drew Hunniford and Jordan Bach each had two hits and two RBI for Saint Xavier. 

Nico Saldias (1-1) pitched four innings of scoreless relief to gain the victory. He allowed only one hit and one walk during that time, while striking out six batters.

Up Next
The Saints are off until Friday when they host Calumet College of St. Joseph (Ind.) to open up a three-game weekend series. First pitch is at 3 pm.

Live coverage can be found at gofightingsaints.com/coverage. You can also keep up with all things USF on Twitter @USFSaints.