LAKELAND, Fla. – Saint Leo baseball closed out its 2016 regular season with a pair of losses at No. 22-ranked Florida Southern, 11-5 and 15-10, Saturday afternoon at Henley Field.
The Lions conclude their regular season with a 28-21 overall mark, 11-13 in the Sunshine State Conference.
Junior Troy Sieber belted a home run in each of Saturday's two games, increasing his career count to 31 and moving into sole possession of second place among Saint Leo career home run leaders. He trails only Saint Leo record-holder Trevor Hall (1999-2002) with 36 home runs.
Redshirt junior Alex Mata stroked a double in game two of Saturday's twinbill, giving him 48 for his career and tying Mata with Mike Henriquez (1983-86) among the program's all-time leaders. Mata's two hits on the day move him to within five of cracking the top five among Saint Leo career hits leaders.
In game one, Florida Southern posted runs in each of the first four innings to hold a 4-0 lead after five complete. The Mocs' Mitch Reeves and Dominic Brugnoni hit solo blasts in the first and third innings to help build the lead.
Saint Leo got on the board in the sixth on Sieber's one-out solo shot to left field. Zach Daley singled home Mata later in the frame to cut the Florida Southern lead to 5-2, but the Mocs responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to extend their lead to 8-2.
Another Moc home run in seventh put Florida Southern in front, 9-2. Saint Leo was able to gain a little ground on the Mocs in the eighth on Tully Allen's single to center that scored Daley, but Florida Southern again answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Nick Boland capped the scoring in the top of the ninth, slamming two-run shot to center field scoring John Thomas in the process.
Daley went 2-for-4 in the first game and was the only Saint Leo player with multiple hits. Starter Shane Haight struck out seven Moc batters, but allowed seven runs on seven hits over five-and-a-third innings in the loss.
In game two, Saint Leo amassed 18 hits to Florida Southern's 16, however the Mocs scored 13 runs over the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to gain the win.
The Mocs posted single runs in the first and second innings, both off solo home runs, before Sieber answered with a solo shot of his own for Saint Leo in the top of the sixth. Florida Southern chalked up four runs on five hits and a Saint Leo error in the sixth, extending the Mocs' lead to 6-1, and added five more runs in the seventh for an 11-1 advantage.
Saint Leo halved Florida Southern's lead with a five-run outburst in the eighth on eight hits, thanks to RBI singles by Daley, Shane Williams, Danny Henriquez, Daniel DiMare, and Chase Turner.
The Mocs scored four more runs in the bottom of the eighth while the Lions answered in kind in the top of the ninth. Saint Leo's Henriquez hit his first collegiate home run in the his final regular season at bat, sending a three-run shot into the Lakeland night and beyond the left field fence at Henley Field. The next batter, Zach Elder, belted his second career homer with a blast to right field.
Turner and Sieber each finished with three hits, while Henriquez tallied four RBI in a 2-for-2 appearance after entering the game as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning. Starter Jordan Pendleton was charged with the loss in his five-and-a-third innings of work, allowing six earned runs on nine hits with four strike outs.
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