JOLIET, Ill. -- Jake Graniczny and Anthony Panzella each allowed just two runs on the mound and the University of St. Francis baseball team swept a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader from Indiana Univeristy South Bend with 12-2 and 7-2 victories on Saturday afternoon.

The bottom of USF's order did the offensive damage with the Nos. 5-9 hitters combining to go 11-for-26 (.423) with six walks and nine runs batted in on the afternoon.  Headlining that group was Mitchell Thomas (3 RBI, 3 BB) and Brant Singler (2 RBI, 1 BB), who each blasted a homerun in Game 1, while Dominik Alberico showcased three hits in six at-bats with a RBI and a walk.

St. Francis (17-27, 14-14 CCAC) had 12 hits in the opener and added eight more in the nightcap for 20 total over the two contests.  Indiana South Bend (18-27, 13-15), meanwhile, was limited to ten hits across the two games.

Game 1:  USF 12, Indiana South Bend 2  (8 innings)
Indiana South Bend held a 1-0 lead over the first three innings of play before the Saints retook the lead at 2-1 after plating single runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings via RBI singles from Noah Munson and Jake Merda, respectively.  St. Francis would then increase its lead to a four-run margin in a loud way one inning later when Thomas connected for a towering three-run homerun over the right field wall, setting the score at 5-1.

The hosts' offensive pressure continued into the seventh inning, starting with Alberico who opened the scoring with a RBI double followed by Ashton Roye crossing the plate one pitch later via a wild pitch, and concluded with a two-run homerun off the bat of Singler.  Merda and Max Montgomery capped the scoring in the eighth inning with back-to-back RBI doubles resulting in the 12-2 mercy rule walk-off win.

Graniczny (1-0) picked up his first win in a Saints' uniform after recording three of his 21 outs on strikeouts.  The only earned run he allowed came in the seventh inning.  He walked two and yielded just four hits in his seven innings of work.

Game 2:  USF 7, Indiana South Bend 2
Nate Maliska, Ryan Louthan and Munson each accounted for two hits apiece in Game 2 with each player also knocking in two runs each.

USF's offense picked up right where it left off in the first inning, with the Saints building a comfortable 4-0 advantage.  Merda and Louthan both had a single to drive in runs in the inning, while Munson came up with a big two-out double to plate two more before the stanza was complete.

The Titans would cut their deficit in half in the third, but Maliska squelched that rally with a bases loaded single to push the score back up to a four-run differential (6-2) in the fourth.  Louthan then eliminated any hope for a Titan comeback in the fifth with a soaring homerun to straightaway centerfield to finalize the scoring at 7-2 in USF's favor.

Besides the two hits which drove in two runs in the third inning, Panzella struck out six Titan hitters in the seven-inning complete game victory to up his overall record to 7-2.  He permitted six hits and two walks.

Up Next
USF takes on Viterbo University (Wis.) in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Friday, April 24 at 1 pm at Slammers Stadium.

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