JOLIET, Ill. -- A big offensive day carried the University of St. Francis baseball team to its sixth doubleheader sweep of the season on Friday afternoon as the Fighting Saints scored 8-7 and 6-2 victories over Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Viterbo University (Wis.) at Slammers Stadium.
Plenty of Fighting Saints produced in the offensive onslaught with no fewer than six players collecting multiple hits on the day, including
Jake Merda and
Max Montgomery who each had a pair of multi-hit games. Merda went 5-for-8, while Montgomery collected two hits in each end of the twinbill.
Dominik Alberico and
Noah Munson also had big days with four hits each, while
Nate Maliska and
Mitchell Thomas both chipped in three base knocks apiece with the latter blasting his third homerun of the season in Game 2.
On the pitching mound, starters
Jake Graniczny and
Anthony Panzella combined for eight strikeouts.
Game 1: USF 8, Viterbo 7
Cody Nold (1-0) was credited with his first win of the season on the mound in his 2/3 innings of relief work. The senior entered the game in the top of the ninth inning after a leadoff double and retired both batters he faced while striking out one.
After spotting the guests two runs in the top of the first inning, the Saints' offense responded by getting on the board in the bottom half of the same frame, putting up three runs. They would give the lead back one-half inning later, however, when a leadoff walk followed by a double and defensive error combined with two wild pitches resulted in a trio of V-Hawk runs marking the score at 5-3 in Viterbo's favor.
The Saints (19-27, 16-14 CCAC) would tie the score and later retake the lead in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, with RBIs from Merda, Montgomery and Thomas to go up 6-5 before Viterbo (10-33, 6-24) knotted the score back up at 6-all with a single run in the seventh.
In the eighth inning, Montgomery looked to be the hero of the game after connecting for a two-out go-ahead single to score Maliska, but a two-out, two-strike wild pitch from the Saint pitching staff allowed Viterbo's Nathan Faust to score the tying run and deadlock the score at 7-7.
The Saints quickly recovered, however, and plated the game-deciding run in the bottom of the ninth when a bunt single from Munson turned into an overthrow at first base resulting in pinch runner
Jaedon Martin to score and give USF the 8-7 win.
Game 2: USF 6, Viterbo 2
The Saints built a 3-0 lead after two innings before a USF defensive error in the fourth brought the game to a one-run margin. Viterbo gave one of those runs back to the Saints in the same fashion in the fifth inning before a two-run homerun off the bat of Mitchell in the sixth capped off the scoring with an eventual 6-2 final score.
Six Saints registered a hit in the contest led by Merda's perfect 3-for-3, 1 RBI showing. Montgomery was 2-for-3 with 1 RBI, while Alberico (1-for-3, 1 RBI), Mitchell (1-for-3, 2 RBI), Munson (1-for-2) and Maliksa (1-for-4) each recorded one base hit each.
Panzella (8-2) picked up a win on the mound with four strikeouts over seven innings, while scattering eight hits and two walks in the complete game outing. He allowed just one earned run.
Up Next
The Saints will be at home again tomorrow (April 25) to complete the four-game series against Viterbo University. First pitch is at 12 pm at Slammers Stadium. Senior day festivities will take place in between games.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
