SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- The biggest offensive explosion of the year for the University of St. Francis baseball team catapulted it atop the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference standings on Tuesday with just three games remaining in the regular season. The Fighting Saints' 19-7 victory over Indiana University South Bend tied the season high for runs scored, while their 23 hits were a new high-water mark.
USF (21-24, 16-8 CCAC) moved atop the league standings following St. Ambrose University's 9-7 loss to Trinity Christian College on Tuesday. The Saints hold a half-game advantage over St. Ambrose and Saint Xavier University and a one-game lead over Trinity Christian College. Olivet Nazarene University and Indiana South Bend are both two games back.
Eric Maffie had the biggest day of any Saint with his third two-home run game of the season. He registered career highs in both hits (five) and runs batted in (seven) for a single game with the home runs being a two-run poke and a three-run shot.
Jake Vera also set personal bests with his four hits and four runs scored. Other four-hit games came from
John McGuire and
Brayan Hidalgo, each of whom drove in a pair of runs. Hidalgo also had a solo home run.
Luke Ketchum drove in another three runs off a pair of hits.
Jacob Jurka (4-1) was the benefactor of the offensive outburst on the mound. He went the first 5 1/3 innings.
The Saints actually trailed 2-0 after three innings before sending 12 men to the plate in the fourth inning. They also batted around in a four-run fifth inning and a five-run eighth inning.
Notes: Maffie moved up from the No. 9 spot to tied for fourth for most home runs in a single season with his two on Tuesday. He now has 16 for the year, which is the most since
Brian Mazurek had the same number in both 1995 and 1996. The single-season record is 22 set by
Jim Kelly back in 1982 … Jurka's fourth win of the season tied him for the team lead with
Sean Michalak …
Jake LaSota extended both his hitting and reaching base streaks to a season-high seven games on Tuesday … USF wraps up its regular season this weekend hosting Olivet Nazarene in a single game on Friday (3 pm) followed by a 1 pm doubleheader at Olivet Nazarene on Saturday.
Links to live coverage can be found at gofightingsaints.com/coverage. You can also keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on Twitter @USFSaints.
