SAINT LEO, Fla. – The Saint Leo baseball team could not find their groove in an unusual Sunday afternoon Sunshine State Conference matchup with Nova Southeastern as the Lions dropped a 16-6 decision to the Sharks at a humid Thomas B. Southard Stadium.

The Lions, finishing up their SSC series after splitting a doubleheader on Saturday, were staring at a 3-0 deficit before their first at-bat as NSU first baseman Riaan Furstenburg hit a three-run shot over the right-field wall to give the visitors an early advantage they would not surrender.

Nova pushed their lead to as much as 7-0 before the Lions dented the scoreboard with a run in the bottom of the fourth courtesy of a Eugene Garnett RBI double that scored Jonathan Duncan.

The Lions added another run in the fifth and began to look as if they were on the comeback trail with a three-spot in the sixth, cutting the Shark lead to 8-5, but that was as close as SLU would get.

Nova Southeastern answered with two more runs in the seventh and then put the final exclamation point on the game with a six-run ninth.

A Dale Slimick home run in the bottom of the ninth put the score at its final 16-6 margin as the Lions went down in order after his round-tripper.

Aaron Brandt (1-6) was the pitcher of record for Saint Leo while Isaac Hicks (7-2) picked up the win for the Sharks.

Slimmick and J.C. Suarez both went 3-for-4 and Garnett went 2-for-4 with two RBI in the loss.

The Lions look to rebound with a home and away series with Webber International University beginning on Wednesday.  Saint Leo will host the Warriors on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. before traveling to Babson Park to face Webber on Thursday.