FAYETTE, Mo. --- NAIA No. 25-ranked Central Methodist University (Mo.) homered in four of the five innings in which it scored multiple runs to put an end to the University of St. Francis baseball team's season with a 14-2 setback at the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round on Tuesday night.

The Fighting Saints opened the contest and the scoring with an RBI single off the bat of Nate Maliska to bring home Alex Martinez (double) in the bottom of the first inning.  But just like it did one day earlier, USF missed out on an opportunity to have a big inning, leaving the bases loaded for the second straight contest in the opening frame.  For the game, St. Francis would leave 11 runners on base.

From there, Central Methodist (35-18) took over, scoring 11 runs over the next four innings beginning with a two-home run second inning to go up 3-1.  The Eagles would bat around in the next inning, putting four runs on the board to open up a 7-1 advantage.

USF would tally its only other run in the eighth inning when Jake LaSota scored Maliska (single) with his RBI single.

Maliska matched his three hits from Monday with another three on Tuesday to lead the Saints' 10-hit attack.  Alex Mielcarz came off the bench to deliver two hits.

Eight different Central Methodist players contributed to the Eagles' 14-hit attack with five delivering home runs.

The loss ended USF's season at 25-28 overall.  The Saints advanced to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round by going 19-8 in league play and winning the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title.

Notes: Maliska went 6-for-10 with two runs batted in in his first-ever NAIA National Tournament appearance.  That enabled him to finish as the team's second-leading hitter with his .353 average … Eric Maffie led the club in a total of 11 offensive categories highlighted by his .383 batting average, 20 home runs and 62 runs batted in … Sam Pileggi led the way in three pitching categories, including his 3.54 earned run average and 55 strikeouts … Maffie closed out his career with a 13-game hitting streak, while Maliska takes an 11-game hitting streak into 2024 … Maffie also ended the year by reaching base in 13 straight games.  Brayan Hidalgo added another game to his team-high log in that category on Tuesday by reaching in his 16th straight contest … After closing out the regular season with 14 wins in their final 15 games, the Saints went just 1-4 in the postseason.     

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