JOLIET, Ill. --- The University of St. Francis baseball team's pitching staff combined to allow just one earned run on the day in gaining a 2-0 and 9-4 sweep of Judson University in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday afternoon at Duly Health and Care Field. The two wins also enabled the Saints to take the three-game series from the Eagles, while evening out their league record at 7-7.
USF scored its two runs late in the first-game pitcher's duel before using a five-run third inning to capture Game 2 over Judson (7-21, 4-11 CCAC).
Hector Carrillo drove in one run in each contest, including the one to break the scoreless deadlock in the opener.
Gio Pappas led the Saints with four hits on the day.
Sam Pileggi and
John McGuire combined on the shutout in the first game, while
Jacob Jurka,
Quinn McGuire and
Sean Michalak worked hand-in-hand on the nightcap victory.
Game 1: USF 2, Judson 0
Pileggi (1-1) allowed just one hit in his longest outing of the year – 5 2/3 innings – to register his first win of the campaign. He retired 16 of the first 17 batters he faced, including five on strikeouts, before walking the bases full in the sixth inning.
John McGuire came on to record the final out of that inning on one pitch and three more outs in the seventh to record his second save of the season.
The Saints (12-23) did not register their first hit of the game until two outs into the fifth inning, which wound up being the only hit they would need with Carrillo singling to centerfield to score pinch runner
Max Montgomery. Montgomery, who put himself in scoring position with a stolen base, came in for
Jake Merda, who coaxed a two-out walk.
Merda added an insurance run in the sixth inning with his infield single following a Pappas double and an
Alex Mielcarz single.
Game 2: USF 9, Judson 4
Judson's 1-0 lead in the first inning was short-lived after
Eric Maffie delivered a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning. The Saints then tacked on five more runs in the third inning on just two hits. USF was the benefactor of three hit batsmen and three walks in the inning not to mention a two-run single from
Nate Maliska and an RBI double off the bat of Pappas.
Both players also drove in runs later on with Maliska finishing the second game going 2-for-5 with three runs batted in and Pappas collecting three hits in his five at-bats with two runs batted in.
John McGuire and Maffie joined the pair with two hits each.
Like Pileggi in Game 1, Jurka (2-1) had his longest outing of the campaign, going 6 1/3 innings. He allowed just the first-inning run as his lone earned run.
Quinn McGuire came in to finish off the seventh inning with Michalak working the final two frames.
Notes: Michalak continued his stellar pitching on Saturday with no earned runs over his two innings. In his last eight outings covering 20 innings, he has allowed only three earned runs (1.35 ERA) … Jurka's outing was his longest of the year by two innings. His previous high was 4 1/3 … Pileggi, meanwhile, had his longest effort by 2/3 of an inning … Maffie's two-run home run in the first inning gave him ten home runs and 33 runs batted in for the season. Each of those numbers are far and away tops on the Saints' leaderboard … USF hosts Indiana University South Bend in a league twinbill on Tuesday beginning at 1 pm.
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