SAINT LEO, Fla. – The 14th-ranked Saint Leo baseball team earned an impressive 13-5 victory in the first game of its four-game series versus Kentucky Wesleyan on Thursday night at Thomas B. Southard Stadium.

The Lions scored first as senior Josh Davis sacrifice-flied to center field to drive in sophomore Dylan Mass followed by junior Callen Moss recorded an RBI-single to left field to bring graduate student Buck Anderson across the dish, 2-0. Moss scored after a fielding error before junior Dylan McDonald drove in a pair of runs with a single to shortstop, 5-0. In the bottom of the second inning, Anderson and Davis launched back-to-back homers to give Saint Leo a 7-0 cushion. Later in the fourth, the Lions grasped an 8-0 advantage as a balk from the Panthers scored graduate student Luke Houin.

Kentucky Wesleyan battled back with five unanswered runs from the fifth through the seventh inning, however, the Lions rattled of five runs in the eighth to secure the victory.

The Green and Gold were led by Anderson, who went 3-for-5 at the plate with a pair of RBI in addition to launching a solo homer and scoring three times. Mass finished the game with two hits and one RBI while McDonald tallied two hits and a trio of RBI. Davis recorded one hit and two RBI while Moss tallied one hit, two RBI, and scored twice.

On the mound, freshman Russell Sandefer started and posted three strikeouts in addition to only allowing one hit in 3.0 innings. In relief, senior Kaelan Racculia collected the win as he surrendered one hit in 1.2 innings while facing six batters.

Saint Leo returns to action tomorrow, Friday, March 8 as it continues its series against Kentucky Wesleyan with a doubleheader, scheduled to start at 1 p.m.