SAINT LEO, Fla. – The 17^th-ranked Saint Leo baseball team took a pair of victories over Eckerd College Sunday afternoon as the two teams opened up their Sunshine State Conference series at Thomas B. Southard Stadium. The Lions and Tritons had already met twice previously this season in nonconference action both of which went in the Lions favor. Redshirt senior Chase Turner led the Lions during his graduation weekend celebration as he walked across the stage Saturday and went 4-of-8 at the plate with a homerun and two doubles on Sunday. Saint Leo took game one 8-6 before claiming the series victory with a 9-5 victory in the nightcap.
 
Seven Lions registered multiple hits over the two contests with three having three or more hits on the day. Turner added a team-high three RBI while juniors Brett Coffel and Peyton Isaacson each went 3-of-7 at the dish. Isaacson drove in a pair of runs while Coffel had a single RBI. Senior Zach Scott was the only other Lion with multiple RBI as he had a pair over the two games to go along with a double.
 
On the mound, a pair of relievers took home the victories. Senior Drew Tumbelty pitched 1.1 innings of relief in game one to take the win while sophomore Joey Antonopoulos took the victory in game two with 3.1 innings of work. Tumbelty improved to 5-1 on the year while Antonopoulos pushed his record to 3-2. Tumbelty picked up a strikeout while giving up two walks. He allowed just one hit and one run scored. Antonopoulos struck out four Tritons and did not allow a hit in the final 3.1 innings of game two.
 
Senior Jordan Pendleton took the start on the mound in game one and went a solid 6.1 innings with six strikeouts and a pair of runs. He scattered eight hits and allowed five runs in the contest.  Redshirt junior Shane Haight took to the mound in game two and gave up an early run in the first inning before sitting down 12-straight Tritons from the second inning through the fifth. He suffered four more runs in the six to bring his day to an end. He struck out seven batters overall and did not give up a walk.
 
Saint Leo led 5-2 heading into the seventh in game number one but a three-run inning by the Tritons made things interesting. With the game tied, the Lions bats once again came alive as Saint Leo pounded out four hits to plate three runs in the inning. A single, a walk and a wild pitch put runners on second and third for the Lions, Scott then singled to left field to drive home Isaacson from third. After a pitching change another wild pitch scored the second run of the inning. The third run came off the bat of redshirt junior Derek Gibree who singled home Scott.
 
Eckerd would mount a small comeback in the eighth as they scored a run but Isaacson came on in the ninth to shut the door and claim his 12th save of the season.
 
The second game saw Saint Leo jump out to a 3-1 lead after four innings of play. Eckerd would score four runs in the sixth to take a 5-3 lead but Saint Leo responded with three runs of its own to retake the advantage. All three runs were unearned due to a passed ball and an Eckerd error in the inning. The lone hit in the period was a double by Scott. Turner would tack on two more in the seventh as he blasted a ball over the scoreboard in left field to give the Lions a three-run edge. Saint leo would add one more in the eighth for the final tally of 9-5.
 
Saint Leo will close out the three game Sunshine State Conference series with Eckerd tomorrow night with a scheduled 6 pm start at Thomas B. Southard Stadium.
 
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