JOLIET, Ill. --- After having its season-high six-game winning streak snapped in a 9-4 first-game setback, the University of St. Francis baseball team rebounded to earn a split on the day with a 16-6 win in the nightcap of its Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with Roosevelt University on Friday afternoon at Duly Health and Care Field.

The Fighting Saints (11-13, 9-3 CCAC) used the lower two-thirds of their lineup to gain the second-game victory, going a combined 16-for-26 (.615).  Drew Dant and Cliff Vickers headlined the group with four hits apiece as USF did not let up after scoring five runs in the first inning.

The opposite was true in the opener, where St. Francis scored two runs in each of the first two innings, but was held scoreless over the final five innings on just three hits as Roosevelt (14-11, 5-5) rallied for the victory.

Game 1: Roosevelt 9, St. Francis 4
After allowing four runs over the first two innings, Roosevelt starter Jake Glickman (3-2) settled down to shutout the Saints over the last five innings in recording the complete-game win.  He yielded just three hits over the final five innings and only one in the last three frames.

USF answered the Lakers' first-inning run with two of its own on a Jake Klepacz groundout and a steal of home by Max Montgomery (single).  The Saints also responded to Roosevelt's two-run second inning with two runs in the bottom half of the inning after singles by John McGuire and Jake Merda and a double by Vickers to open the frame.

The guests would force a third tie at four-all in the top of the third inning, which would eventually turn out to be a string of six unanswered runs by Roosevelt to close out the game, capped by a four-run sixth inning.

McGuire and Merda accounted for half of USF's eight hits with a pair each.

Game 2: USF 16, Roosevelt 6
There was plenty of offense to go around for the Saints in Game 2 with five different USF players authoring multi-hit games.  Dant and Vickers led the way with four hits each with Vickers also driving in four runs.

Other big hitters were Brayan Hidalgo (3-for-5, 3 RBI), McGuire (2-for-3, 3 RBI) and Klepacz (2 hits).  Hidalgo and Dan Gusel also provided solo and two-run home runs, respectively.

The Saints scored multiple runs in five of their eight at-bats starting with a five-run first inning, including runs batted in from Klepacz, Hidalgo and McGuire.  Roosevelt kept pace with a pair of runs in each of the first two innings.

McGuire added his second RBI and Vickers his first with singles in the third inning.  Hidalgo's home run started the first of three three-run innings over the final four frames.  Gusel had his two-run home run in the seventh inning and Hidalgo, McGuire and Vickers added to their RBI totals in the eighth inning to force the ten-run rule.

Sam Pileggi (1-2) collected his first win of the season by going a season-high six innings on the mound.

Notes: Dant now boasts the team's highest hitting streak of the season at 11 games after his five hits on Friday.  During the hot streak, he has batted .568 (25-for-44) with two four-hit games in his last three contests … Dant also now holds the longest current on-base streak of the same 11 contests with Montgomery and Vickers one game behind … Nate Maliska saw his season-high nine-game hitting streak come to an end in the opener, while Klepacz saw both his hit streak of eight games and on-base string of 12 games halted in the first affair, as well … Gusel's home run was his first of the campaign … The Saints wrap up the four-game set with Roosevelt on Saturday in Crestwood at Ozinga Field with the twinbill starting at 1 pm. 

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