MELBOURNE, Fla. - Saint Leo Baseball opened their series up with Florida Tech on Friday night and put a 12-spot up on the Panthers in a 12-3 win.

The Lions either trailed the Panthers or were deadlocked with Florida Tech for most of the game. Florida Tech led Saint Leo, 3-2, going into the sixth inning. But that's when the bats came to life for the Lions. With two on and one out in the top of the sixth, Yazael Nunez stayed hot at the plate with a two-run single that scored Mike Wyman and Adrien Roa to give Saint Leo a 4-3 lead that would not vanish. Then after moving to third on a wild pitch, Nunez would steal home Kenny Lofton style to make it a two-run game, 5-3. 

But Saint Leo wasn't done there. The Lions broke out for five runs in the seventh inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Buck Anderson moved everyone over with a RBI single to make it 6-3 Saint Leo. Tyler Trovinger really delivered the big blow in the next at bat with a two-run single up the middle that scored Nunez and Wyman, giving the Lions an 8-3 lead. After Sam Crail grounded out into a RBI and Bobby Sparling brought home Trovinger, the Lions led 10-3 after seven innings. 

Brayden Heidel earned the win for the Lions in his tenth start of the season, going five innings, giving up three runs on five hits, striking out four and walking two. Heidel is now 2-3 on the season with the win. Andy Booth came on in relief and gave Head Coach Rick O'Dette three innings of shutout baseball giving up just one hit. Dylan Broderick closed it out in the ninth in his ninth appearance. 

Saint Leo advanced to 25-12 on the season and 11-8 in the Sunshine State Conference. The Lions and Panthers are back in action for a doubleheader on Saturday in Melbourne starting at noon.