BATESVILLE, Ark. ---- One day after getting just a single hit over nine innings, the University of St. Francis baseball team totaled a dozen hits in each end of 11-10 and 16-5 twinbill victories over Lyon College on Saturday afternoon.
Eric Maffie fueled the 24 hits in 14 innings, going 5-for-7 with two home runs, including a game-winner, six runs scored and another seven driven in on the day.
Maffie broke a 10-10 tie in a wild see-saw affair in the opener with a two-out solo home run and then started the scoring in the nightcap with a three-run blast. All five of his hits on the afternoon went for extra bases with the two home runs and three doubles.
Luke Ketchum also had a big day with his four hits, four runs batted in and a home run, while
Jake Vera (four hits) and
Alex Mielcarz (two) joined Maffie and Ketchum with hits in both games.
The only two pitchers to go unscathed on the mound recorded the two victories.
Quinn McGuire tossed the final two innings of the opener before
Mack Malczewski started the nightcap with 4 1/3 scoreless innings.
Game 1: USF 11, Lyon 10
In the opener, the Saints held three separate three-run leads only to have Lyon rally each time. Maffie and McGuire finally put things to rest in the seventh inning with Maffie's two-out solo home run in the top of the inning and McGuire overcoming back-to-back one-out walks in the bottom of the frame.
Vera and
Brayan Hidalgo each totaled three hits with the latter also driving in four runs. He had a two-run single in a three-run third inning and drove in two more runs with his first of two doubles in the game in a three-run fifth inning.
Four of USF's five doubles in the contest came in a four-run sixth inning when the Saints rallied from a 7-6 deficit. The doubles from Maffie (2-for-3, 4 runs, 2 RBI), Ketchum (2-for-3, 2 runs) and Mielcarz all drove home runs.
Jake LaSota also drove in a pair of runs.
McGuire (1-0) came on in relief after the Saints saw a 10-7 lead vanish in the sixth inning. Two of the outs he recorded were strikeouts.
Game 2: USF 16, Lyon 5
Maffie started Game 2 right where he left off in Game 1 with a home run. His three-run blast three batters into the game sparked a six-run first inning with
Hector Carrillo (3-for-3) driving in the other three runs on a bases-clearing triple.
The Saints had the game well in hand two innings later when they put up four more runs before adding a pair of three-run innings in the fourth and sixth frames. Ketchum had a solo home run in the third inning and a two-run triple in the fourth.
Maffie wrapped up his 3-for-4, five-RBI game with a two-run double in the sixth inning.
Malczewski (1-0) allowed only one hit in his 4 1/3 innings, but did walk five batters. He stayed in just long enough to earn his first win of the season.
Notes: In all, Maffie reached based eight of the ten times that he stepped to the plate on Saturday. Besides his five hits, he also walked three times … LaSota was also a walk machine with his five bases on balls … The Saints conclude the four-game series with a single game at 11 am Sunday morning.
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