PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. -- Three days after splitting a doubleheader with Calumet College of St. Joseph to begin Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play, the University of St. Francis baseball team authored double-digit hit counts in each end of 11-7 and 7-6 twinbill victories over Trinity Christian College in league action on Friday afternoon.  Jake Klepacz (5-for-9, 4 RBI) and Brayan Hidalgo (5-for-9, 3 RBI) fueled the 28 hits over 16 innings with their big afternoons.  With the wins, St. Francis improved to 7-12 overall and 3-1 in league play on the year.

Drew Dant broke a 7-7 tie in a wild see-saw affair in the opener with a one-out suicide squeeze in the seventh inning.  Hidalgo, meanwhile, delivered a two-out RBI single to tie the score in the eighth inning of Game 2 before Max Montgomery tallied the game-winning run one batter later on a wild pitch.

Mitchell Thomas also had a big day with his four hits, one run batted in and four runs scored.  Nate Maliska (three hits) and Jake Merda (two) joined Thomas, Hidalgo and Klepacz with hits in both games.  Four of Klepacz's five hits on the afternoon were also connected to runs batted in, while Maliska drove in a team-high seven RBI.

Three pitchers that went unscathed on the mound recorded the two victories and a save.  Cristopher Villwock (2-0) tossed the final three innings of the opener before Ethan Fleming (1-3) threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings in the nightcap.  Zac Blazekovich picked up his first save of the season, retiring all three batters he faced in Game 2.

Game 1:  USF 11, Trinity Christian 7
In the opener, the Saints began the game with the first seven batters reaching base successfully, resulting in a quick four-run lead.  Trinity Christian, however, answered right back with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning to mark the score at 4-3.  Hidalgo would pick up his first RBI of the day in the second inning to give the Saints a two-run cushion, but the Trolls fired back again putting up a pair of runs in both the second and third innings to take their first lead of the game at 7-5.

St. Francis knotted the score back up at 7-7 by manufacturing single runs with one-out base hits in the fourth and fifth innings.  That set the stage for Dant and Villwock putting things to rest with Dant's successful suicide squeeze to plate Alex Mielcarz in the top of the seventh inning and Villwock overcoming back-to-back, two-out singles in the bottom of the frame.  Montgomery, Hidalgo and Maliska also authored RBIs in the Saints' final stanza for the final 11-7 count.

Five Saints in total produced multi-hit games, led by Montgomery's 4-for-5 showing.  Thomas and Klepacz each tallied three hits, while Hidalgo and Dant both registered two.

Maliska also drove in a quartet of runs in the game.

Villwock (2-0) came on in relief to pick up the win, allowing four hits, while striking out one in three scoreless innings of work.

Game 2:  USF 7, Trinity Christian 6
Like the opener, Game 2 saw the two teams knotted in a tie score (5-5) heading into the sixth inning.  A loud one-out double gave the Trolls (5-10, 1-5) a one-run advantage in the sixth inning, but a failed suicide squeeze attempt later halted TCC's momentum and set the stage for USF's come-from-behind rally in the eighth inning.

After retiring the first two Saint hitters in the eighth inning, TCC starting pitcher Gunnar Bettenhau allowed a two-out single to Thomas before gifting Montgomery first base via a hit by pitch.  Hidalgo would then come through with the big hit for the Saints with the single to left field to plate Thomas and tie the score at 6-6.  Following a pitching change, Montgomery would score on the wild pitch to give USF the 7-6 lead.

Hidalgo (3-for-5, 1 RBI), Klepacz (2-for-5, 2 RBI) and Maliska (2-for-5, 3 RBI) accounted for seven of St. Francis' 10 hits in the contest as well as all six runs batted in.

Up Next
The Saints conclude the four-game series against Trinity Christian with a doubleheader on Saturday (March 15) beginning at 1 pm at Slammers Stadium.

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