JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis baseball team homered three times and drove in 17 runs on the day with six Fighting Saints having big offensive outputs, slugging their way to 12-11 and 7-4 victories over rival Trinity Christian College in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Slammers Stadium.
Brayan Hidalgo and
Jake Merda both homered in the opener of the twinbill with
Cliff Vickers also getting in on the act with his solo shot in the nightcap. Hidalgo (four hits) and
Ethan Fleming (three) totaled seven hits on the afternoon and also combined for seven runs scored.
Hidalgo and
Max Montgomery drove in four runs each with
Will Calcaterra pushing home two runs.
Eighteen extra-base hits were recorded between the two teams as part of the combined 50 hits total.
Game 1: USF 12, Trinity Christian 11
In a wild see-saw affair that showcased 30 hits and 23 runs scored, St. Francis would jump out to a 7-4 lead after scoring runs in each of its first four innings.
The fifth inning was nothing short of crazy as fans saw 11 men cross the plate between the two teams, which resulted in a locked score of 11-11 after all was said and done. USF allowed 13 Trolls to come to the plate in the top half of that frame before the Saints nearly matched that count in the bottom of the inning when it sent 10 hitters to the plate and totaled four runs.
The roller coaster of a game had a thriller of an ending with the Saints winning in walk-off style. After Fleming began the inning with a lead-off double,
Drew Dant advanced him to third via a sacrifice bunt. TCC then chose to intentionally walk
Mitchell Thomas to put runners at first and third base. Shortly thereafter, TCC's Ulysses Munoz chose to throw to first base in an attempt to pick off Thomas, but an alert Fleming read the play and took off for home, sliding in safely under the catcher's tag to seal the win for the Saints with the final 12-11 count.
Hidalgo drove in three of USF's runs on his three hits. Montgomery (2-for-4) also had three RBIs, while Merda and Fleming registered a pair of hits each.
Zac Blazekovich (2-0) picked up the win in relief, retiring three of the four batters he faced in his one inning of work.
Game 2: USF 7, Trinity Christian 4
USF looked to carry its momentum into Game 2, scoring the first run of the contest in its half of the second inning when Vickers sent his solo home run over the right field wall. Trinity Christian offset that energy in the fourth inning, plating a pair of runs off three hits to take a 2-1 lead.
St. Francis countered with a six-run fifth inning, which showcased four doubles in the stanza. Calcaterra got things going with his two-run double before Montgomery, Hidalgo and Klepacz all followed suit with RBI doubles of their own.
Nate Maliska would cap off USF's scoring with an RBI single to plate Klepacz and mark the score at 7-2.
Trinity Christian responded by manufacturing single runs in the sixth and eighth innings, but it was too little, too late as
Cristopher Villwock would come in relief for USF to shut the door in the final two innings of play.
Anthony Panzella evened his record at 1-1 with his first pitching victory of the year. He struck out two batters, while walking just one in his seven innings on the rubber.
Up Next
The Saints stay home to face St. Ambrose University on Tuesday (March 18) in a doubleheader beginning at 1 pm.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
