BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Saint Leo baseball team evened the series at one win a piece with the Lynn Fighting Knights early Saturday but it was the host school who took home the rubber match in the late afternoon to win the series. The Lions won the opening game of the doubleheader 9-6 as redshirt junior Danny Torres went 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBI and a run scored. The Fighting Knights edged the Lions 7-5 in the evening contest with all seven runs coming in a decisive sixth inning.
 
The split moves Saint Leo to 3-13 overall and 2-4 in Sunshine State Conference play. The Fighting Knights improved to 9-7-1 in 2020 and 4-2 in league play.
 
The Lions belted out 11 hits in the opening game of the doubleheader but managed just one extra base knock as redshirt freshman Gabby Salgado connected on a double. Torres was joined by junior Sam Crail and Salgado as the only Lions with more than one hit in the victory.
 
The Lions led 2-1 heading into the seventh inning Saturday afternoon when three hits, three walks and a Lynn error led to seven runs for the Lions. Senior Jake Vander Wal earned a bases loaded walk RBI to open the scoring. Following a strikeout, sophomore Mike Wyman drew another bases loaded walk for the second run of the frame. A single by Torres after a pitching change drove in two more runs for the Lions. A hit by pitch loaded the bases once again which was followed by a fielding error by the Lynn first baseman which led to two more Lion runs.
 
The Fighting Knights tried to battle back in the eighth as they scored five runs on three hits including a grand slam but that would be all they would muster as senior Joey Antonopoulos entered the game on the mound and shut down the Lynn offense.
 
Sophomore Jestin Jones earned his first victory on the mound for the Lions as he went 7.0 innings with six strikeouts versus just two walks. He scattered five hits over the seven frames and allowed just one run. Antonopoulos came on late in the eighth to save the contest after Lynn mounted a comeback. He went 1.1 innings with a strikeout and did not allow a single Fighting Knight to reach base.
 
In game two it once again came down to two big innings. The Fighting Knights were the first to strike in game two as they plated seven runs on six hits in the bottom of the sixth inning to break open a scoreless tie. The Lions would try to match Lynn in the top of the sixth but much like the Fighting Knights in game one, the Lions would come up short in game two. Saint Leo scored five runs off of three hits, a walk, a hit by pitch and a Lynn error. That would be all the scoring both teams would come up with in the game.
 
Vander Wal and senior Brett Esau each finished with two hits in the loss. Vander Wal was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a walk while Esau was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
 
Redshirt junior Jeremy Peel made his first weekend start of the season as he went 5.1 innings with four strikeouts and a walk. He allowed seven hits and four runs to score. Three others saw the mound including Antonopoulos who once again closed out the game going the final inning with two strikeouts and a hit by pitch.  
 
The Lions will open up a stretch of six-straight home non-conference contests over the next week as they host Minnesota Crookston Monday night at 6 p.m.  
 
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