LIMA, Ohio -- University of Northwestern Ohio gave up 11 runs to the University of St. Francis baseball team on Tuesday afternoon but the USF offense was not enough as the Fighting Saints dropped 7-3 and 11-8 decisions to the Racers in a non-conference doubleheader at Racer Field in Lima, Ohio.

The hosts scored in each of the first three innings of the opener to jump out to a 4-1 lead before scoring in four of the six innings in the nightcap.  USF (7-11) managed six hits in the first contest, while yielding a double-digit run total for the seventh time this season in the second game.

Nate Maliska (4-for-7, 1 RBI), Jake Merda (2-for-5, 3 RBI), Hayden Host (2-for-6, 3 RBI) and Noah Munson (2-for-5) and were the only Saints to register multiple hits on the afternoon, while six did so for Northwestern Ohio (10-10) as part of a 23-hit attack.

Game 1:  Northwestern Ohio 7, USF 3
Northwestern Ohio used four doubles over the course of the seven-inning contest to cruise to the Game 1 victory.  The Racers would plate runs in each of the first (one), second (two) and third (two) innings before adding three more insurance tallies in the fifth inning.

Outside of leaving two runners on base after scoring two runs on RBI singles from Host and Ethan Fleming in the sixth inning, St. Francis only threatened the Racers one additional time in the first frame after three free passes from UNO starting pitcher Noah Curi resulted in one run and two men left on base.

Game 2:  Northwestern Ohio 11, USF 8
St. Francis looked to secure the momentum on their side in the nightcap after a two-run second inning tied the score at 2-2 after three innings of play.  Merda (2-for-2, 3RBI) connected for the first of his two hits in the game to push Maliksa and Max Montgomery across the plate for the two runs.

That high was followed by a low, however, one half inning later when Northwestern Ohio put up five runs in its frame which was kickstarted by a two-run homerun two batters into the stanza.  

The Racers would later hold a 9-2 advantage heading into the fifth inning, when a Host single allowed two USF runs to cross the plate marking the score at 9-4.  St. Francis would again look to benefit from a swing of momentum after an UNO wild pitch, a RBI single from Merda and a Ryan Louthan sacrifice fly in the top half of the sixth inning would produce three more tallies to cut their deficit to just two runs (9-7) before the Racers again squelched the Saints' energy with a two-run bottom half of the stanza.

The Saints responded by plating one run in the top of the seventh and bringing the tying run to the plate via a two-out RBI single from Maliska, but it was not enough as Racer reliever Jordan Davis struck out the final USF hitter to secure UNO's 11-8 win.

Jake Graniczny had a solid effort in relief for the Saints as the junior did not yield a run.  He struck out two batters in his one inning of work and allowed just one hit.

Kyle Lipke also had a blemish-free outing, retiring the lone batter he faced.

Up Next
USF takes on Trinity Christian College in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Friday, March 13 at 1 pm in Palos Heights, Ill.

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