JOLIET, Ill. --- The University of St. Francis baseball team gained no less than a share of its second consecutive Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference crown with its split decision against Indiana University South Bend on Tuesday afternoon at Duly Health & Care Field. After dropping a 5-2 first-game contest, the Fighting Saints slugged their way to a 16-6 victory in the nightcap.
USF (23-17, 21-7 CCAC) now needs just one victory over Olivet Nazarene University during its four-game series to close out the regular season later this week to claim the outright title.
After being held to just three hits – its second-lowest total of the season – in the opener, head coach
Brian Michalak's club laced 16 hits, including three triples in the nightcap.
Nate Maliska and
Cliff Vickers were the only two Saints to get credited with hits in each end of the twinbill, finishing with four and three, respectively.
Game 1: Indiana South Bend 5, USF 2
Despite scoring a run in the first inning, the Saints were held hitless until the fifth inning when Vickers finally broke things up to open the frame. He would also supply the Saints' second run with a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
USF's only other hit was by Maliska to begin the sixth inning.
The Saints' first run came courtesy of three walks and a wild pitch with the bases loaded. Indiana South Bend (18-28, 10-18 CCAC) scored singles runs in three of the first four innings before Kaleb Farnham's two-run home run provided the necessary insurance tallies in the seventh inning.
Game 2: USF 16, Indiana South Bend 6
USF hit its magic number of eight runs – the Saints are now 17-0 when scoring at least that many runs in a game – by the second inning. Leading 2-1 after the first inning, St. Francis took advantage of a two-out error by the Titans one inning later. That opened the floodgates for six runs in the frame, including two on a triple by
Josh Kirnbauer.
Jake Klepacz also had a run-scoring triple, while Maliska,
Drew Dant and
Brayan Hidalgo each provided RBI hits.
The Saints would put up another six-spot in the fifth inning with Hidalgo getting in on the triple act with his driving in a pair of runs. Klepacz scored another two runs with a single up the middle with
John McGuire and Dant producing the other RBIs in the inning.
Six different Saints recorded multiple hits with five of those also registering at least two runs batted in. Dant led the way with three hits and four runs batted in. Klepacz and Hidalgo were next in line with two hits and three RBIs. Maliska totaled three hits and two runs batted in, while Kirnbauer matched his two hits with two RBIs.
McGuire also went 2-for-4 with four runs scored and one RBI at the top of the order.
Ethan Fleming (3-4) earned the victory with his one scoreless inning of relief.
Notes: While McGuire's team-high 18-game hitting streak was stopped in Game 1, that did not keep him from reaching base for the 23rd and 24th straight games after doing so in each end of the doubleheader … Dant matched that feat to extend his streak to 27 games … With his three hits in Game 2, Dant now has multi-hit games in 20 of his 40 contests played this season … Dant's 4-RBI game marked the fifth time this season that he has performed that trick, which matches the rest of the club combined … USF tripled its pleasure with its season-high three triples in Game 2 … The Saints and Olivet Nazarene University have pushed their scheduled doubleheader up one day from Friday to Thursday due to the inclement weather expected on Friday.
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