SAINT LEO, Fla. – After a tough loss Friday night the 23^rd-ranked Saint Leo baseball team returned to the diamond Saturday and took two games from the visiting Lynn Fighting Knights to capture their first Sunshine State Conference series of the season. The Lions edged out a 5-4 victory in game one, which included a walk-off wild pitch, before clinching the series with a 6-3 victory in game two.
 
The wins improve the Lions record to 9-5 on the season and 2-1 in league action while the Knights fell to 8-5 overall and 1-2 in SSC play.
 
Freshman Logan Flood and redshirt senior Derek Gibree led the Lions with four hits each over the two contests. All four of Flood's hits came in game two as he did not have in at bat in game one. Seniors Jared Morello and Brett Coffel were the only two Lions with more than one RBI on the day as they each finished with two.
 
The stars of the day stood on the mound in the center of the diamond as the Lions had several strong pitching performances. It began with redshirt senior Shane Haight who started game one. He had a somewhat rough first inning as he allowed four runs to cross the plate but they were all unearned due to a throwing error that prolonged the inning. Including the final batter of the first inning, Haight had a string of 18 batters that he sat down in a row that stretched from the first to the seventh inning. He allowed five hits on the day while striking out five and walking one. He pitched 7.0 innings and did not allow an earned run.
 
Despite Haight's strong performance on the mound, the Lions did not take the lead until the bottom of the ninth. Sophomore McCabe Sargent came on in relief for Haight in the eighth and finished the final 2.0 innings not allowing a runner to reach base. He took home the victory, his first of the season.
 
In game two it was redshirt junior Ryan Nolan taking the mound. He went 7.0 innings as well and allowed six hits while striking out three. He walked a pair and saw two runs cross the plate including one earned run. He took home the victory which moved his seasonal record to 2-0. Junior Kaleb Huxford pitched the eighth and struck out one while allowing a single hit. Junior Trevor Sanchez closed out the game going in the ninth and allowing one hit, which was a solo home run, while striking out a pair.
 
Lynn scored four runs in the opening frame of game one and the Lions played from behind the rest of the way. Saint Leo scored a run in the second as freshman Mike Wyman drove home Coffel who opened the inning with a single. The Lions second run came in the third as senior Peyton Isaacson provided the RBI grounder that scored Gibree who led off the inning with a single.
 
The next Saint Leo run did not come until the seventh inning as Gibree led off the inning with a solo home run, his first of the season and fourth of his career. Down 4-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth the Lions knew they had to get at least one run across the plate. After a groundout to open the frame, Morello reached with a one-out single to right field. After a pitching change, Isaacson drew a walk, which forced another pitching change for the Fighting Knights. Following a line-out, redshirt sophomore Danny Torres drew a walk to load the bases with two outs. Wyman was next to the plate and he hit a high chopper to the left side which forced the third baseman to make a fast throw. The fielder missed the mark allowing Wyman to reach and Morello to score the tying run. During the next at bat the pitcher threw a wild one which allowed Isaacson to score the walk-off run from third.
 
The second game featured Flood who earned his first career hit and his first career home run in his first two at bats. He would start the game 4-for-4 with a pair of singles, a double and a home run before finishing 4-for-5.
 
Lynn took an early 1-0 lead in the second but the Lions responded in the third as Morello hit a ball down the left field line that scored Gibree from second. Flood would give the Lions the lead in the fourth with a leadoff home run that flew over the scoreboard in left field.
 
The Fighting Knights would tie the game up when a high fly ball to left field was lost in the lights by Coffel which allowed a run to cross the plate. Coffel would make up for his "mistake" in the bottom of the inning as he crushed a two-run home run down the left field line, giving the Lions a 4-2 lead. The Lions would tack on two more runs in the eighth while Lynn scored a solo run off a home run in the ninth for the final 6-3 score.
 
The Lions will hit the road next weekend for their first Sunshine State Conference road series at Barry who swept 13^th-ranked Florida Southern this weekend in Lakeland.
 
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