SAINT LEO, Fla. – The Lions bullpen surrendered seven runs in the top of the eighth, as the Saint Leo baseball team dropped an 8-5 decision to No. 5 Florida Southern at Thomas B. Southard Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Saint Leo would slip to 16-26, while Florida Southern improves their record to 35-5 in 2010.

In a game that saw 12 hits for the Lions and five runs scored, the Saint Leo offense came from Eugene Garnett Jr., Dustin Brown and Ware Hart.  Garnett Jr. was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI, while Brown was 2-for-5 with a run scored, a home run and 2 RBI, and a 1-for-4 performance with an RBI by Hart.

Lions took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, off back-to-back singles by Ryan Brnovich and Garnett Jr. and RBI singles by Brown and Hart.

The Lions tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the second off a two-run home run by Garnett Jr., connecting on his eighth round-tripper of the season to put SLU up 4-0.

The Mocs tabbed their first run of the night in the top of the fifth off a sacrifice fly from Tony Mitchell that drove in Kyle Gibbs.  The highlight of the night came from Brown, robbing Mitchell of an extra base hit by making a diving, off-angle catch on the warning track to prevent a bigger inning for the visitors. 

After the SLU bullpen kept the Mocs scoreless for two innings, outfielder Braxton Chisholm tied the game at four with a three-run home run to right-center field in the top of the eighth.  The Mocs would then take the lead off an RBI single by Kelvin Clark.  With two outs and two runners on Tyler Benzel smacked a three-run home run to right field to push the lead to 8-4.  

The Lions rallied in the ninth with a home run to right field off the bat of Brown, pulling SLU to within three runs, but that would be all the Lions could muster in the final frame.

In his first start of the season, senior Seth Fowler tossed six innings, surrendering one run on five hits while striking out three.  Caleb Fuddy and Jamie Tutko would follow Fowler’s performance by piecing together a scoreless inning despite walking three Mocs.  The Lions bullpen was unable to hold on to a three-run lead while allowing seven runs on four hits while walking two as Corey Marcus (0-2) was saddled with the SLU loss. 

The Lions will take the field again on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at Thomas B. Southard Stadium against Webber International. First pitch set for 6:00 p.m.  Live stats will be available on the SaintLeoLions.com.