LAKELAND, Fla. – The seventh-ranked Saint Leo baseball team registered a 9-6 road victory at Florida Southern in Sunshine State Conference (SSC) on Thursday night.

The Mocs were able to score first following a two-run double in the first. The Lions cut their deficit to a 2-1 margin in the second inning as junior Nick Yedman blasted a solo homer. However, Florida Southern plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the second to claim a 4-1 edge. The Saint Leo offense mounted momentum in the third as sophomore Dylan Mass scored freshman Luis Rivero on a groundout to first base, 4-2.

During the top of the fourth, the Lions continued to roll as sophomore Amai Rivera-Martinez launched a three-run jack to give Saint Leo its first lead with a 5-4 advantage. In the fifth, the Green and Gold tallied a trio of runs as Mass drove in senior Caleb Adams on a single through the right side before Mass scored on an error followed by graduate student Yazael Nunez knocking in a run with an RBI-single, 8-4. Saint Leo added another run in the seventh with a sacrifice-fly from Yedman to right field to push the Lions lead to 9-4. The Mocs plated a run in the bottom half of the seventh followed by another one in the eighth to trim the Lion lead to 9-6. To close the door on the Mocs, graduate student Nick Jennings posted a pair of strikeouts and only allowed one hit in 1.1 innings on the mound to earn his fifth save of the season.

Nunez finished the game with two hits and one RBI while Rivera-Martinez highlighted the Lions offensive output with a three-run homer. Yedman plated two runs and scored twice while Mass registered two RBI and one hit. On the mound, senior Evan Wolf started for Saint Leo and tallied three strikeouts and allowed five runs on eight hits in 6.2 innings as he improves to 2-0 on the year.

The Lions return to the field tomorrow, Friday, March 29, as they conclude their three-game series against Florida Southern with a doubleheader, starting at 1 p.m.