By: William Burns, Contributing Writer
Saint Leo Baseball Continues to Struggle in Non-Conference Matchup
On Monday, March 2, the Saint Leo Baseball team took on the Golden Eagles of Minnesota Crookston in a non-conference matchup. The Golden Eagles came into the game with only nine games played, while Saint Leo had sixteen games under their belt already. Games played does not directly translate into experience though, since Saint Leo has won only three of those sixteen games, and Minnesota Crookston had won five of their nine.
Freshman Andy Booth got the start on the mound for the Lions in this game. Booth is a left-handed pitcher from Palm Harbor and came into the game with just over ten innings of work on the season. Booth showed out and had a high-quality start by allowing just two runs over 5.1 innings of work, leaving the game with only a one run deficit. On the season for Booth, he has a 5.06 ERA but has a good strikeout ratio of sixteen strikeouts to two walks.
The Golden Eagles started off the scoring in the game during the second inning with a homerun to left field on a 3-2 count. The Golden Eagles held onto this one run lead until the Lions evened the score in the fifth inning when Freshman Zach Benson doubled down the first base line to score Freshman Ariel Martinez and tie the game at one run each.
Minnesota Crookston soon got back on top in the sixth inning as a single through the left side scored a run. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Saint Leo tied the game again at two runs apiece as Redshirt Senior Jake Vander Wal hit a sacrifice fly to score Junior Sam Crail. This was the last time the Lions would score in the game as Minnesota Crookston used a three-run seventh inning to take a five to two lead which would ultimately win them the game.
The Golden Eagles scored on a fly ball to center field, as both runners advanced on the play. The Saint Leo pitcher attempted to pickoff the running on first base but threw the ball away, collecting an error and allowing the runners on first and third to advance, scoring the Golden Eagles second run of the inning. Then, with the runner on second base, Minnesota Crookston singled up the middle to score their last run of the game, as they closed out the rest of the game scoreless to pick up their sixth win of the season while handing Saint Leo their fourteenth loss of the season.
Saint Leo’s offense struggled against the pitching of the Golden Eagles. Saint Leo put together only six hits in the game, with three of them coming off the bat of Crail. This kind of offense cannot win games unless the Lions pitchers get better, and the defense gets way better. The Lions were charged with six errors on the game, leading to two unearned runs by the Golden Eagles. This is compared to two errors made by the field of Minnesota Crookston. The Golden Eagles tallied fifteen hits and four walks against only seven strikeouts.
The Lions offense has struggled this season, scoring five or less runs in eleven of their contests, and the pitching staff and defense has given up ten or more runs in seven of their games. Errors have plagued the team but if they can sharpen up their defense, they might be able to pull the rest of their season together.
The next game of the season is Friday, March 6, at home at the Thomas B. Southard Stadium at 6:00 p.m. against Kentucky Wesleyan.
