MILLINGTON, Tenn, --- The University of St. Francis baseball team powered up for four home runs, but ten errors on the day did the Saints in in dropping 10-6 and 8-3 decisions to Georgetown College (Ky.) on Saturday afternoon. Eight of the Tigers' 18 runs were unearned.
John McGuire added three more hits to his four from the previous day to finish hitting .538 (7-for-13) for the four-game weekend set.
Luke Ketchum also collected one hit in each end of the twinbill.
The two setbacks left the Saints at 2-2 for the weekend.
Game 1: Georgetown 10, USF 6
After falling behind 4-1 after the first two-and-one-half innings, the Saints rallied for five unanswered runs, including four in the fifth inning to take a 6-4 lead. That advantage, however, was wiped out by Georgetown's five runs one-half inning later.
USF's first two runs came on solo home runs from
Eric Maffie and
Dan Gusel in the first and third innings, respectively.
Jake Vera then knotted the score at four-all with his two-run home run to right field in the fifth inning.
The Saints were not done in that inning, however.
Brayan Hidalgo's two-out, two-run double to left field gave USF its only lead of the afternoon at 6-4.
Georgetown followed with the final six runs of the contest over the last two innings.
Vera finished the contest with his first three-hit game of the campaign. Maffie and McGuire each provided two hits.
Game 2: Georgetown 8, USF 3
The Tigers (6-1) built a 6-0 lead after the first three innings and never looked back.
Gio Pappas authored a pinch-hit two-run home run for the Saints in the fourth inning only to have Georgetown counter with two more runs in the bottom of the frame. USF's other run came on an
Alex Martinez single in the sixth inning.
Notes: Both teams finished with 16 hits on the afternoon … Gusel,
Jake Merda,
Isaac Milovich,
Ethan Fleming,
Cody Nold and
Joel Hunt all made their St. Francis debuts on Saturday with each of the latter three tossing at least one inning on the mound … Fleming and Hunt did not allow an earned run in their two and one innings of relief work, respectively …
Sean Michalak also bounced back with two scoreless innings in Game 1 … The Saints return to action next Friday when they open a four-game set with Lyon College in Batesville Ark.
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