SAINT LEO, Fla. – The third-ranked Saint Leo baseball team collected a 6-2 victory over Eckerd in a Sunshine State Conference (SSC) contest on Friday night at Thomas B. Southard Stadium.

After the win, the Lions improved to 35-6 overall behind an 18-4 record in SSC play.

Senior Mikey Scott gave the Green and Gold a 1-0 lead following a double center field in the first. However, the Tritons answered in the second inning as they tallied a pair of runs on a single through the right side. Junior Dylan McDonald tied the game at 2-2 as he drove in graduate student Yazael Nunez. Senior Caleb Adams launched an RBI-double to left field as the Lions reclaimed the lead at 3-2 later on in the second. Junior Callen Moss recorded a sacrifice-fly to center field in the third inning to plate graduate student Buck Anderson and extend the Saint Leo edge to 4-2.

 From the fourth inning to the seventh inning, both defenses and pitchers held strong as the game went scoreless until Moss registered another sacrifice-fly this time to right field in the eighth and the Lions grasped a 5-2 advantage. Graduate student Zach Benson blasted a single up the middle that plated Scott to give Saint Leo a 6-2 lead. In the ninth, graduate student Nick Jennings shut the door on Eckerd as he struck out a pair in the ninth and closed the game with a fly-out to center field.

Anderson went 2-for-3 at the plate and scored three runs while Scott tallied two hits and one RBI while crossing home plate once. Additionally, Benson, McDonald, and Adams each recorded a hit and RBI. Nunez finished the game with one hit and rounded the bases to score once. On the mound, senior Luke Lashutka started for the Lions and struck out 10 batters while only surrendering two runs (none earned) on just four hits in 8.0 innings along with retiring the side in order in five consecutive innings.

The Lions return to the diamond tomorrow, Saturday, April 27 as they conclude their three-game series against Eckerd with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.