Saint Leo, Fla. (March 16, 2008) – The No. 29 Saint Leo University baseball team (21-8, 4-2 SSC) defeated Eckerd College (10-17, 2-7 SSC) by a score of 26-12 on Sunday afternoon, helping the Lions take two out of three in the Sunshine State Conference series.

Saint Leo had a total of eight homers, as six of the nine starters took the ball out of the yard and the Lions pounded out a total of 26 hits in the win.  All nine Saint Leo starters had multiple-hits in the game, and each registered at least one RBI.

Leading the way was freshman 3B Anthony Santa (Land O’Lakes, Fla.) who went 3-for-4 with five RBI and two home runs, marking the first homers of his career.  Brandin Daniel (Sr., Punta Gorda, Fla.) was just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, as he went 5-for-6 with four RBI, two home runs and two doubles.

Yunior Tabares (Sr., Tampa, Fla.) also had five RBI on the afternoon for the Lions, while Bobby Munoz (Jr., Tampa, Fla.) stretched his hitting streak to 12 games with a 2-for-5 day.  Jonathan Duncan (Jr., Starke, Fla.) went a perfect 4-for-4 with a homer and three RBI.

Saint Leo scored runs in each of the first four innings and put the game out of reach early, leading 13-2 after just four innings.  After the Tritons closed to within five runs in the top of the eighth, the Lions shut the door with a nine-run bottom half of the inning, scoring each of the nine runs with two outs.

SLU starter Carter Clements (Sr., Eustis, Fla.) improved to 5-1 on the season with the win on the mound for the Lions.  Eckerd starter Adam Whitlow fell to 1-2 on the season, lasting just 1.2 innings and allowing eight runs (five earned) on seven hits.

Saint Leo will host Rollins College on Friday night in the opening game of a Sunshine State Conference series.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Southard Stadium.