LA CROSSE, Wis. -- The University of St. Francis baseball team gained an all-important victory Saturday afternoon delivering in the clutch with a 10-4 nightcap victory over Viterbo University (Wis.) after dropping the front end of its doubleheader 5-2 in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup at the VU Athletics Complex in La Crosse, Wis.

St. Francis' Game 2 victory inched the Fighting Saints one game closer to an invitation to this coming week's CCAC Tournament.  Had the Saints (20-28, 16-14 CCAC) dropped both games this afternoon, head coach Brian Michalak's club would have had to sweep the V-Hawks in tomorrow's doubleheader to advance to the postseason tournament.  However, with the split, the Saints will now have to win just one of two games on Sunday in order to edge out Olivet Nazarene University for the sixth and final spot in league standings.

Nate Maliska (3-for-9, 2 RBI), Max Montgomery (3-for-9, 1 RBI), Cliff Vickers (2-for-6, 2 RBI) and Mitchell Thomas (2-for-6) all registered hits in each end of the doubleheader with Drew Dant also driving in a team-high three runs on the day.

Game 1:  Viterbo 5, USF 2
After scoring two runs off back-to-back two-out singles from Maliska and Montgomery to jump out in front with a 2-0 lead, the Saints were cruising along until Viterbo's five-run uprising in the sixth inning.  Five V-Hawks hits combined with two USF errors resulted in the hosts turning a 0-2 deficit into a 5-2 lead, with all five runs being credited as unearned.

Staring pitcher Sean Michalak was shouldered with the loss dropping his season record to 5-4.  The senior would allow five hits against one walk in five innings of work.

Game 2:  USF 10, Viterbo 4
In the nightcap, Viterbo spotted St. Francis a four-run lead after one half-inning only to see the Saints tack on another quartet of runs in the sixth stanza before adding single runs in the eight and ninth frames to wrap up their scoring on the day.

After USF took its initial 4-0 lead, the V-Hawks would cut their deficit by one with a single run in the fourth inning before marking the score at 8-4 with three runs in the sixth.

Starting pitcher Jacob Jurka (3-4) picked up the win, tossing the first 5 and 2/3 innings before yielding to the St. Francis bullpen.  Quinn McGuire then came on in relief and allowed just four hits in 3 and 1/3 innings of scoreless work.

Brayan Hidalgo (2-for-4, 2 RBI) and Ethan Fleming (2-for-3, 2 RBI) both notched two hits and two RBIs in the game, while Jake Merda (3-for-5) added three base hits to his season total.

Up Next
The Saints will wrap up their regular season tomorrow with a league matchup  against Viterbo University.  The two-game set is scheduled to start at 11 am.

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