Saint Leo, Fla. (March 22, 2008) – The Saint Leo University baseball team (22-9, 5-3 SSC) defeated visiting Rollins College (21-10-1, 3-5 SSC) by a score of 24-12 in a Sunshine State Conference slugfest on Saturday afternoon at Southard Stadium.  The second game of the doubleheader was cancelled due to rain with a make-up date to be determined.

Leading the way for the Lions was sophomore CF J.C. Suarez (Tampa, Fla.) who went 5-for-6 with three RBI and three runs scored.  Both Devon Cason (Sr., Tampa, Fla.) and Jason Hamm (So., Tampa, Fla.) drove in four runs, while Yunior Tabares (Sr., Tampa, Fla.) and T.J. Alonzo (Jr., Tampa, Fla.) were both 4-for-6 in the game and Tabares added three RBI.  Junior SS Bobby Munoz (Tampa, Fla.) also stretched his hitting streak to 14 games in the win.

The Lions jumped to an early 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, batting around the order to begin the game.  Saint Leo scored its six runs on five hits and sent 11 players to the plate in the opening inning. The Lions added single runs in the second and third inning before plating three runs in the fourth to open up an 11-0 lead.

Rollins rallied with an eight-run inning in the sixth to make it 11-8, but the Lions answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 14-8.  The Tars again battled back to cut the deficit to 14-10 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Saint Leo put the game out of reach in the seventh, scoring nine runs on five hits.  The inning was highlighted by a two-run home run off the bat of Tabares, while Cason had a two-run double and the scoring was finished off by Jonathan Duncan (Jr., Starke, Fla.) who tripled to drive in two more runs.

Lion starter Reid Tilson (Jr., Brandon, Fla.) was the winner on the hill, improving to 4-1 on the season.  Rollins starter Marc Hewett picked up the loss, falling to 4-3.

Saint Leo’s next scheduled game is Tuesday night against Florida Southern in a non-conference outing.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Southard Stadium.