JOLIET, Ill. --- Nick Villasenor claimed his fourth win in a row and Jake LaSota drove in six runs with five hits as the University of St. Francis baseball team inched ever so closer to the .500 mark on the season with its doubleheader sweep of Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Trinity Christian College on Thursday afternoon at Duly Health and Care Field. The Saints (19-21, 15-6 CCAC) posted an 8-0 shutout in the opener before rallying for a 9-3 victory in the nightcap.

LaSota delivered three runs batted in in each of the two contests, while Eric Maffie provided two hits in both ends of the twin bill. Jake Vera extended his hitting streak to 13 games with three more hits on Thursday. He has also hit safely in 18 of his last 19 games.

John McGuire had his club high 15 game hitting streak come to an end in the first game, but that did not affect his pitching in Game 2 as he notched the win.

Game 1: USF 8, Trinity Christian 0
Villasenor, Mack Malczewski, and Dane McDonald combined on the shutout for the Saints with the trio totaling six strikeouts against no walks, while scattering four hits.  Villasenor (5-3) was efficient, needing just 38 pitches to retire his 15 batters over five innings. He allowed only one hit, while recording three strikeouts.

LaSota (3-for-3, 3 RBI) delivered RBIs in three of the four scoring innings for the Saints, beginning with his solo home run to left field to give the Saints a 2-0 lead in the third inning. He added a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and another run scoring single in the sixth inning.

The Saints put the game out of reach in the fourth inning when they scored five times highlighted by a two run single from Noah Kararo and a two run triple off the bat of Scott Tumilty.

Maffie and Alex Martinez had two hits each for USF.

Game 2: USF 9, Trinity Christian 3
The Saints did not give up an earned run on the day as all three Trinity Christian runs came via errors, including two in the second inning. USF overcame its three errors in the game by scoring eight runs over its final four innings to pull away for its 12th win in its last 15 games.

LaSota's triple started the St. Francis scoring in the third inning before putting the Saints up 3-2 with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. He also accounted for USF's final run with a single in the eighth inning.

Five Saints in all provided a pair of hits as part of a 13 hit attack. That group was made up of LaSota, Maffie, Vera, Luke Ketchum, and Jonathan Wolf.

McGuire (4-3) worked the first six innings before giving way to Zac Blazekovich (2 innings) and Nick Clemmons (one), who combined to allow only one hit over the final three innings.

Up Next
The Saints begin a three-game weekend series with Lincoln College on Friday in Lincoln with a 1 pm first pitch.

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