STEUBENVILLE, Ohio. (April 13) – A big offensive day for the Saint Vincent baseball team led it to its fourth straight sweep of a Presidents Athletic Conference opponent to extend its winning streak to 11 games
The Bearcat scored 21 runs in the doubleheader sweep of Franciscan University, winning the opener, 9-4, and the nightcap, 12-10.
Jordan Sabol notched six total hits for the Bearcats in the doubleheader, including his first career home run - a grand slam. Sabol had four hits in the opener, helping lead the Bearcats back from a 4-0 deficit to the 9-4 victory. He followed that up with two more hits in the nightcap, including his granny, helping Saint Vincent cruise to the 12-10 win.
Game One- Saint Vincent 9, Franciscan 4
After the Bearcats went down quietly in the top of the first, Franciscan started the scoring off for the day with a big bottom of the first, scoring four runs in the inning off of Saint Vincent starting pitcher Casey Jones.
After a quiet second inning for both teams, the Bearcats had a huge third inning, erupting for six runs on five hits and one Franciscan error. Justin Wright led off the inning with a solo homer un to right field, cutting the Franciscan lead to 4-1. Julian Santana followed Wright's homer with a double to left and the Bearcats were in business.
After Santana's double, John Evans reached on error, which allowed Santana to come around from second base to score, cutting the deficit to 4-2. After the error, Jordan Sabol singled, advancing Evans to second.
TJ Dailey followed Sabol's single up with a walk, loading the bases for Saint Vincent. That's when Billy Perroz came up with a game tying two-RBI double to right field, scoring both Sabol and Evans.
The Bearcats were not done in the inning. Zach VonStein hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Dailey from third to give the Bearcats a 5-4 lead. After a groundout, Zach Barberich smacked an RBI double to right field, scoring Perroz and capping off the scoring for the inning, as the Bearcats found themselves with a 6-4 lead after two and a half.
The top of the fourth was another big inning for the Bearcat bats.
Sabol singled to center, advanced to second on a balk and scored when Dailey ripped an RBI double to right, upping the lead lead to 7-4. Perroz followed up Dailey's double with a two-run homer ti left, his fourth of the season, giving the Bearcats a 9-4 lead.
It was the Casey Jones show the rest of the way. After giving up four runs in the first inning, Jones shut the Barons out the rest of the way, leading the Bearcats to the 9-4 victory. The veteran picked up the complete game win, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits with five strikeouts.
Sabol, Perroz, and Evans led the way for the Bearcats offensively. Sabol scored two runs on top of his four hits. Perroz wen 2-for-4 with the home run, double with four RBI's. Evans also added two hits, while scoring a run in the win as well.
Game Two- Saint Vincent 10, Franciscan 8
The second game of the doubleheader began as a pitcher's duel between SVC's Aaron Stephan and Franciscan's Patrick Wallace, as both teams combined for zero runs on just three hits over the first three innings.
Saint Vincent finally cracked the scoreboard first in the top of the fourth. With one out in the inning, Matthew Lockwich doubled to center field. After another out for the Bearcats, Dailey came through with a two out RBI single to left, scoring Lockwich and giving Saint Vincent a 1-0 lead.
Perroz followed Dailey's single up with one of his own, advancing Dailey to third base. Dailey then scored the Bearcats second run of the game, as a botched pick off attempt to first base ended up in right field, giving the Bearcats a 2-0 lead heading to the bottom of the fourth.
Stephan continued to dominate the Barons hitters, as he set them down quietly in the fourth inning, just as he did in the first three innings.
In the top of the fifth, after two quick outs, the Bearcats were poised to score more with two outs. Wright walked, Santana singled and Lockwich walked loading the bases. That's when Sabol came up with a clutch two out grand slam, his first career home run, increasing the Bearcat lead to 6-0 as the game headed to the bottom of the fifth.
Franciscan wouldn't go away easily. The Barons ended Stephan's shutout with four runs in the bottom of the fifth on four hits, cutting the Saint Vincent lead to 6-4 after five complete innings.
Saint Vincent couldn't get anything going in the top of the sixth, and Franciscan picked up right where they left off in the fifth inning. The Barons took advantage of a couple errors by the Bearcats as they scored two more runs on three hits to tie the game at 6-6.
In the top of the seventh, the Saint Vincent offense came to life once again. Ben Menarchek led the inning off with a single to right field. After an out and wild pitch, Santana hit an RBI double to center, scoring Menarchek and giving the Bearcats the lead right back at 7-6. Lockwich followed up Santana's double with an RBI single, scoring Santana, increasing the Saint Vincent lead to 8-6. After the second out of the inning for the Bearcats Dailey came up big once again. He launched a two-run homer, his fifth of the year, giving the Bearcats a 10-6 lead.
Franciscan went down fighting. The Barons followed up the Bearcats big top half of the seventh, with two runs on three hits, cutting the Saint Vincent lead to 10-8.
Jeremy Kruezweiser came up big in relief in the final two innings for the Bearcats. He shut the door on the Barons, holding them scoreless over the final two innings to give the Bearcats the win, 10-8, and the series sweep.
Kruezweiser picked up the win in relief. He pitched four innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits, while striking out five and walking one.
Santana, Lockwich, Sabol, Dailey and Perroz all notched two hits for the Bearcats in game two. Santana and Lockwich each had one RBI apiece. Dailey added three RBI's and Sabol had four on the strength of his grand slam.
The Bearcats won't have any break, as they return to action on Thursday, April 13, when they travel to the University of Pitt-Greensburg for a non-conference game. The game will be a single nine-inning game with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.