CHICAGO -- Dominik Alberico connected for four hits at the plate and collected a of trio RBIs, but Saint Xavier University's offense was too much for the University of St. Francis baseball team to handle in game one before the Cougar's pitching staff blanked the USF hitters in the nightcap, scoring 14-5 and 4-0 victories in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep over the Fighting Saints on Saturday.

Even though St. Francis (11-19, 8-8 CCAC) registered a combined double-digit hit total between the two contests, Saint Xavier (18-10, 9-5) put up big first innings offensively in each of the two games and never looked back courtesy of its combined 23 hits on the day.  Along with Alberico, Jake Merda (two) and Dylan Scafuri (two) were the only other Saints to record multiple hits on the day.

Game 1:  Saint Xavier 14, USF 5
Saint Xavier went straight to work in Game 1, scoring five runs in the first inning and five more in the fourth while sandwiching single runs in each of the second and third frames to open up a 12-0 advantage.  The Saints turned the offensive switch on in the fifth, plating four runs followed by one run in the sixth, but it was too little too late as the Cougars scored two more runs in the eighth to finalize the score at 14-5.

Alberico and Scafuri each collected two hits for the Saints, while Alberico (3 RBI) and Merda (1 RBI) took credit for all of USF's RBIs in the contest.  Alberico's RBIs came via a three-run homerun over the left field wall in the fourth inning, while Merda followed that up with a RBI single in the sixth to account for St. Francis' final run.

Joel Hunt and Nick Huspen combined for three scoreless innings pitched in relief for the Saints.  The duo allowed just two hits.  Frank Curbis (0-3) picked up the loss, dropping his overall record to 0-3 on the season.

Game 2:  Saint Xavier 4, USF 0
The Cougars opened Game 2 in similar fashion as they did in Game 1, scoring three runs in the frame before adding one more insurance tally to their total in the second inning.

St. Francis only reached scoring position in the third and seventh innings, where the Saints collected two of their four hits.  Alberico was credited with two hits in the contest, while Merda and Ethan Fleming supplied the other two base knocks.

SXU's Tyler Deluca (1-2) struck out five and was credited with the complete game victory for the Cougars.

Up Next
USF takes on St. Ambrose University (Iowa) in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Tuesday, March 31 at 1 pm at Slammers Stadium

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