Introduction

MERIANS, SAINTS BLAST DAYTONA FOR SECOND STRAIGHT MFC WIN, 11-5

MERIANS, SAINTS BLAST DAYTONA FOR SECOND STRAIGHT MFC WIN, 11-5

March 10, 2010 Contact: Scott Jamison 352.395.5616 scott.jamison@sfcollege.edu

SF BASEBALL

SAINTS BLAST DAYTONA FOR SECOND STRAIGHT MFC WIN, 11-5

Gainesville, FL – The Santa Fe (12-10, 2-3 MFC) offense was unstoppable on Wednesday afternoon against Daytona State College as they piled up 11 runs on 20 hits to win their second straight MFC game.  BOX SCORE

Gary Merians (2-3, 2.47 ERA) was just as brilliant on the mound, keeping the Falcons batters off balance all game, shutting them out over seven innings, surrendering only four hits while striking out six.

The Saints opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the fourth on RBI singles by Joe Clouse and Ricky Claudio for a 2-0 lead.

SF tacked on three more runs in the sixth inning on a homerun by Jeff Moyer and RBI doubles by Claudio and Austin Lawrence to push the lead to 5-0.

The Saints blew the game open in the seventh with four runs on four hits and a Daytona error.  Brett Bozeman started the inning by reaching on an error by the Falcons second baseman and advanced to second on a wild pitch.  Miranda doubled Bozeman home and two batters later Jardian Thomas singled put runners on first and third with two outs.  Ricky Claudio stepped up to the plate and belted his first homerun of the season, giving SF a 9-0 lead.

Daytona scored four runs on a grand slam in the eighth, but Santa Fe answered with two runs on RBI singles by Clouse and Claudio.  The Falcons scored one in the ninth, but couldn’t muster a comeback.

The Saints had a season high 20 hits against Daytona.  Ricky Claudio had the best game of his collegiate career, going 4-for-5 with a homerun, double and six RBI.  Jeff Moyer also had four hits (4-for-5) and was only a double away from the cycle.  He finished with a triple, homerun, two singles and an RBI.  Mike Miranda was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI and Jardian Thomas, Joe Clouse, TJ Spine and Austin Lawrence each had two hits.

The Saints will travel to Daytona State on Friday for a game with the Falcons at 3:00pm.

For complete schedules and more information on Saints Baseball, please visit www.sfcollege.edu/athletics.  To see game photos and other updates, follow Santa Fe College Athletics on Facebook.

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