DAYTONA, Fla. – The Saint Leo baseball team opened its Sunshine State Conference (SSC) series at Embry-Riddle with a 7-6 victory on Friday night.

Senior Braden Killens scored on a throwing error in the second to give the Lions a 1-0 advantage. In the third, junior Amai Rivera-Martinez extended the Green and Gold lead to 2-0 with a sac-fly to left field as he plated classmate Dylan Mass. Saint Leo once again scored on a throwing error from the Eagles in the top half of the third as the Lions led by a 3-0 margin.

In the fifth, Embry-Riddle recorded a two-run homer to trim its deficit to 3-2. During the sixth inning, senior Dylan McDonald blasted  an RBI-double to left center followed by Mass doubling to left field to score McDonald as the Lions claimed a 5-2 edge. Mass capped off the three-run inning for the Lions as he crossed home plate on a throwing error by the Eagles.

Embry-Riddle answered with three consecutive runs to tie the game in the seventh, however, Killens tallied an RBI-single to right field to score junior Ryan Crivello for the winning run.

On the mound, senior Dawson Turner started and pitched 5.0 innings while he struck out five batters in addition to allowing five runs (four earned). In relief, senior Kaelan Racculia pitched 2.0 innings and held the Eagles hitless with three strikeouts while collecting the win.

Saint Leo returns to action tomorrow, Saturday, March 28 as it concludes its series with a doubleheader at Embry-Riddle, starting at 1 p.m.