SAINT LEO, Fla. – The Saint Leo baseball team lost its series-opener at Florida Southern on Friday night by a 17-5 margin in Sunshine State Conference (SSC) play.

The Lions gained an early 1-0 lead as junior Abrahan Rios registered a sacrifice-fly to center that scored senior Dylan. In the bottom of the first and second innings, the Mocs tallied four runs as they mounted a 4-1 lead. During the third, the Green & Gold trimmed its deficit to 4-3 following an RBI-double by senior Ryan Crivello and an RBI-single by Rios. However, Florida Southern scored five unanswered runs to lead 9-3.

In the sixth, junior Camdin Jansen blasted his fourth homer of the year to score a pair of runs for the Lions. The Mocs scored eight runs between the bottom of the sixth and eighth innings to secure a 17-5 win.

On the mound, freshman Parker Hohnstock started and pitched 1.2 innings as he tallied a strikeout and surrendered four runs (all earned) on four hits while issuing two walks. In relief freshman Collin Lock and senior Matt Delph registered a strikeout each.

The Lions return to action tomorrow, Saturday April 11 as it concludes its series with Florida Southern with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.