HENDERSON, Tenn. -- University of St. Francis' Sean Michalak tossed six innings of shutout baseball, but Freed-Hardeman University (Tenn.) rallied for four runs in the seventh inning to turn back the Fighting Saints 4-2 in their season opener Thursday night.

Michalak yielded just two hits on the night, including one to the second batter of the game.  He then went on to retire the next 15 batters in a row before giving up a two-out single to his last batter of the night, who was eventually retired trying to stretch the hit into a double.

For the game, Michalak struck out five batters and faced the minimum number of hitters (18) after he picked off the lone other batter to reach base on the first-inning single.

USF held a 2-0 lead when Michalak departed, scoring single runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.  Brayan Hidalgo, the lone batter from either team to collect two hits, got things started with a leadoff double in the fifth inning.  He moved to third base one batter later on a Jake Merda single before scoring on a Cliff Vickers sacrifice fly.

Hidalgo was also involved in USF's other run, scoring Nate Maliska (reached on error) with a two-out infield single.

Three of Freed-Hardeman's four runs came after two outs with a walk and three straight singles.  The Lions started the inning with a leadoff double followed by a hit batsman.    

St. Francis never rallied after the run in the sixth inning, going down in order in each of its final three frames.

Mitchell Thomas accounted for USF's other hit.

Up Next
The Saints will play their first doubleheader of the season on Friday, facing Midway University (Ky.) at 2:45 pm followed by Freed-Hardeman at 5:30 pm with both contests being played at the latter's Five Wells Field.

You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.