SAINT LEO, Fla. – With a walk-off home run from senior
Caleb Adams in the tenth, the seventh-ranked Saint Leo baseball team earned a 10-9 win over Nova Southeastern on Friday night to kickoff the three-game series of Sunshine State Conference (SSC) play at Thomas B. Southard Stadium.
As the leadoff hitter to start extra innings for the Lions, Adams put this game to bed as he launched a solo shot to left field to give Saint Leo a 10-9 victory margin. Prior to Adams' late-game heroics, the Green and Gold were down 9-7 entering the bottom half of the ninth before junior
Nick Yedman plated senior
Giuseppe Arcuri with a double to left center followed by graduate student
Zach Benson singles through the right side to bring in Yedman and tie the game at 9-9.
The Lions grabbed their first lead of the game in the seventh as Benson notched an RBI-single to give Saint Leo a 7-6 cushion, however, the Sharks tied the game at 7-7 with a sacrifice-fly before they grasped a 9-7 edge with a two-run homer in the ninth. The Lions hit their offensive stride in the fifth, highlighted by a three-run inning, all of which coming from a three-run jack from junior Callen Moss closed the Saint Leo deficit to 6-5. The Green and Gold answered a 5-0 run by Nova Southeastern with a pair of runs in the second while graduate student
Yazael Nunez recorded and RBI-single to right center followed by Benson launching a sacrifice-fly to center field to trim the Sharks lead to 5-2. Nova Southeastern jumped out to a blazing start with four runs scored, all of which were plated by home runs.
Benson had quite the outing at the dish as he went 4-for-4 with three RBI while Moss posted three hits, three RBI and three runs scored. Nunez finished the game with a pair of hits and one RBI. Additionally, senior
Mikey Scott, graduate student
Buck Anderson, and Adams each tallied a hit. On the mound, senior
Luke Lashutka started for the Lions a registered a career-high 11 strikeouts as he allowed six runs on nine hits in 6.0 innings while graduate student
Nick Jennings collected the win in relief with four strikeouts as he allowed two runs on two hits in 3.0 innings of work.
The Lions return to action tomorrow, Saturday, April 6 as they continue their series versus the Sharks, starting at 1 p.m.
