CHICAGO --- Drew Dant homered three times and drove in 12 runs on the day and eight other members of the University of St. Francis baseball team had big days offensively as the Fighting Saints slugged their way to 21-4 and 30-14 victories over rival Saint Xavier University in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference first-place matchup on Tuesday afternoon.

Extending its winning streak to a season-high six games, USF (10-12, 8-2 CCAC) opened up a two-game lead in the league standings over both Saint Xavier (13-14, 6-4) and Trinity Christian College.

Unprecedented scoring innings were the story of the day with the Saints having 12 of their first 13 batters reach base to start Game 1 en route to an 11-run frame.  After sending 15 batters to the plate in that inning, they would send another 12 players to bat in the sixth inning when they tacked on another nine runs.

In the nightcap, St. Francis trailed 5-1 after two innings before unloading for 15 runs in the third inning when 19 batters stepped to the plate, including leadoff hitter Alex Martinez three times.  Head coach Brian Michalak's club would follow with 14 more runs over the next four innings before the game was called because of darkness in the seventh inning.

Dant and Martinez would homer in each end of the twinbill with Cliff Vickers also getting in on the act with his three-run shot in the first game.  Dant nearly hit for a home-run cycle on the day with a grand slam in Game 1 and both a solo home run and a three-run shot in the second game.

Dant and John McGuire totaled seven hits on the afternoon, going 7-for-11 each.  Jake Klepacz followed with six hits in nine at-bats, while Martinez and Nate Maliska provided five hits apiece.

Brayan Hidalgo and Martinez drove in six runs each, with Klepacz pushing home five runs.

Eleven home runs were hit between the two teams as part of the combined 68 hits total, 29 of which went for extra bases.  Seven of the home runs came in Game 2.

Game 1: USF 21, Saint Xavier 4
The Saints put up 11 runs before Saint Xavier even came up to bat with Hidalgo driving in runs in each of his two at-bats.  He had a two-run single and a sacrifice fly. 

Martinez matched his jersey number by going 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three runs batted in, two of which came on a double in the first inning.  The other one was part of a three-home run sixth inning when the Saints put up nine runs.

The home runs went to all three fields starting with Vickers' three-run shot to right field.  Martinez took his solo home run to left field two batters later before Dant cleared the bases with his grand slam to center field at the tail end of the inning.

Dant drove in five runs on his three hits.  McGuire also had three hits, while Josh Kirnbauer (2 RBIs), Maliska and Klepacz registered a pair of hits each.

Ryan Daly (5-1) recorded his second-highest strikeout count of the season with his 12 K's against one walk in the seven-inning, route-going performance.

Game 2: USF 30, Saint Xavier 14
Seven Saints in all had multi-hit games with four of those becoming the first USF players to have four-hit games this season: Klepacz, Dant, McGuire and Vickers.  Six batters also had multi-RBI contests highlighted by Dant's seven. 

Klepacz drove in four of the other runs in both the highest-scoring and hitting games of the season for the Saints.  Martinez, Maliska, Hidalgo and Jake Merda recorded three RBIs each.  

After allowing ten batters to come to the plate in a Saint Xavier five-run first inning, USF nearly doubled that count in the third inning when it sent 19 hitters to the plate to total 15 runs.  The scoring did not stop from there with the Saints posting four runs in the fourth inning, two in the fifth, seven in the sixth and one more in the seventh inning.

Dant drove in three runs on two hits in the 11-hit inning with each of the first 15 St. Francis batters reaching base.  Klepacz and Maliska had two-run singles in the inning, which saw all nine batters drive in at least one run.

Dant provided his third home run (three-run shot) of the day one inning later with Martinez's two-run home run coming in the sixth inning.  Merda had a two-run double in the latter frame.

Mack Malczewski evened his record out at 2-2 with his win on the mound.

Notes: Daly's 12 strikeouts marked the third time in his last four starts that he has recorded at least ten K's … Four of Dant's seven multi-RBI games have been of the four-plus variety … Maliska and Dant extended their hitting streaks to nine games with Maliska having hit safely in 18-of-21 games this season … During his hit streak, Dant has produced multiple hits in seven of the nine games and has also driven in runs in six straight contests … Klepacz, who has an eight-game hitting streak, has multiple hits in seven of those games.  He also has a streak of 12 straight games getting on base … In both ends of the twinbill, Hidalgo authored a rarity, driving in runs in two separate at bats in the same inning … Besides its run and hit counts, USF's six doubles in Game 2 were a season high … The Saints homered three times in each contest … Dant came into the doubleheader with three home runs on the season and doubled that by the end of the day … The Saints start a four-game series against Roosevelt University on Friday with a doubleheader at Duly Health & Care Field beginning at 1 pm.   

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