Lake Wales, Florida – It was an early day for Siena Heights Baseball with an opening game at 9:00 AM against St. Francis (Ill.) and a game to finish out the day starting at 1:00 PM against St. Thomas. SHU began the day with a win over St. Francis boasting a score of 3-2 over the Fighting Saints. The Saints dropped game two with a 14-0 defeat at the hands of St. Thomas.
Game 1: Siena Heights 3, St. Francis 2 – 9 innings
Haydn Smith (3-for-4) led the way for the blue and yellow batting .750 and brought in one run. Cameron Hammer totaled two hits in three at-bats. Chris Winkelman went 1-for-4, also bringing in one run for the team. Cody Henderson tallied a hit and brought in one run to add to the stat book. Pitcher Chase Molnar saw action in seven innings facing down 28 batters while counting six strikeouts and only allowing eight hits. John Miller came into the game during the bottom of the eighth inning seeing nine batters and sat down two.
St. Francis put numbers on the board first with a quick run during the first inning. The Fighting Saints would add one more run to the scoreboard in the second inning with a home run. The Saints kicked it into gear during the top of the third, with Henderson, Smith, and Cole VanWasshenova all made it on base. A wild pitch advanced VanWasshenova and Smith, while Henderson went in to score the first run of the game for Siena Heights. Hammer stepped up to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly out towards right field allowing, Smith to run home for the second run of the inning.
Winkelman hit a double down the left-field line in the ninth and was able to advance to third after a sacrifice bunt from Jakob Scroggie. Next was Henderson, who hit an RBI single that allowed Winkelman to cross home plate for what would be the winning score.
Game 2: Siena Heights 0, St. Thomas 14 – 7 innings
Haydn Smith (2-for-4) was the leader for game two as he recorded two hits. Zach Bloom (L, 0-3) got the start on the mound. Bloom put in 1.2 innings of work while allowing seven hits and seven earned runs. Luc Olson saw 2.1 innings and struck out four batters while giving up four hits. Andy Stoll pitched one inning facing nine batters and allowing three hits. Kenny Layman pitched for two innings sitting down one batter and giving up two hits.
St. Thomas put up seven runs in the top half of the 2nd-inning and SHU could not overcome the deficit. Siena Heights did see multiple runners in scoring positions but was unable to capitalize on the scoring chances.
Up Next -- SHU baseball advances into tournament play, opponent to be decided.
