Senior Chase Turner had a big offensive weekend. Saintleolions.com
It sure was a tough weekend series for the Saint Leo Lions’ baseball team. A squad that usually sweeps others got a taste of what it feels like to get swept themselves. The red-hot Lions have only been swept twice this year. Those games being against Nova Southeastern and University of Tampa the weekend of March 17. Saint Leo played hard but ultimately dropped the three-game series to Nova 0-3.
The second game of the series took place April 7 at the Thomas B. Southard Stadium. Here the Lions dropped the game in a big loss with the score being 19-4. The Sharks connected on a homerun in the very first at-bat of the game, setting the tone for the rest of the day. The Lions eventually scored a pair of runs themselves in both the first and sixth innings, however, it was not enough to stop the red-hot Sharks who scored 19 runs on a season high of 26 hits.
The game started close as the two teams were tied 2-2 in the second inning. However, Nova went off by scoring an incredible 13 unanswered runs before Saint Leo would score again. After the Lions scored, Nova added four more runs to the lead in the eighth inning giving them a final score of 19.
Junior Jared Morello led the Lions with a 3-for-4 batting performance and he scored two runs on the day. Senior Chase Turner and junior Brett Coffel each got a pair of hits while also scoring two RBIs. Junior Shane Haight was the starter for the Lions; he only pitched two innings with five earned runs and one strikeout. The Lions used almost the entire pitching staff while sending out five different pitchers during the game. Each pitcher only stayed on the mound for two innings. Jake Sims had the best performance of the pitchers by recording four strikeouts and only one hit.
The last game of the series took place April 8 again at the Thomas B. Southard Stadium. This game was a pure slugfest seeming more like a basketball game with all the constant action and scoring. This high action game kept many fans on the edge of their seat where Saint Leo eventually dropped the game 18-13. The contest had both teams combining for 31 runs and 34 hits. Each team used five pitchers, meaning the Lions had used 10 over the course of the weekend games.
The Sharks opened the scoring early as they poured on six runs in the first inning. One inning later the Lions responded with three runs of their own. Scott and Coffel reached base on a single and an error. The Sharks then scored six unanswered runs where four of them came in the third inning and one each in the fourth and fifth innings. Now trailing 12-3, Saint Leo came back to life and came up big, scoring five runs in the bottom of the fifth. Morello started things off with a three-run home run over the right centerfield fence which scored Portee and senior Derek Gibree.
The Lions stopped Nova from scoring in the top of the sixth and tacked on three more runs off another home run from Isaacson in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 12-11. Unfortunately, the momentum swung back into the Sharks’ favor as they scored six runs on five hits to make the score 18-11. The Lions desperately tried to come back in the eighth and scored two more runs, however, it just wasn’t enough.
The game then ended with the final score of 18-13 with the Lions getting swept in the series. Saint Leo senior Oscar Gordillo suffered his second loss of the season as he allowed six runs in four innings of play. Eight of the nine Saint Leo starters all picked up at least one hit in the game—Senior Zach Scott led the way with three. The three juniors of Jared Morello, Peyton Isaacson and Aaron Portee all drove in three runs while Turner and Coffel both had two RBI’s. Nova’s big player Domini Diana had a monster day going 5-6 with two RBI’s. This loss brings the Lions’ record to 26-8 on the season and 9-6 in the conference.
