April 14, 2014
SF BASEBALL
Gainesville, FL – The Santa Fe Saints trailed 9-2 in a must win situation on Monday against Seminole State College after four and a half innings, but fought back to earn a 10-9 victory in 10 innings. Colby Lusignan came up with the big hit for SF, blasting a two out, two run homerun (6) in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings, where the Saints (21-17, 9-10 MFC) won it on a bases loaded error by the Raiders. SF now trails Seminole (20-16, 10-9 MFC) by just one game in the battle for third place in the MFC.
Derek Vail (2-0) tossed a career high 7.1 innings out of the bullpen, holding Seminole in check to set up the rally.
“It was a must win for us,” said SF Coach Johnny Wiggs. “We went early to Vail and he responded with seven plus solid innings. We had a lot of big hits, but none was bigger than the homerun by Colby. Our guys never quit and this is the type of win that can spark us and get us going.”
Seminole struck the first blow Monday afternoon, plating six runs on seven hits in the third innings, forcing SF started Brady Price from the game. Derek Vail entered and allowed three runs over the next two innings before settling in to shutout the Raiders over his final five innings of work.
The Saints scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a two run homerun by Jonathan Camp (4).
Trailing 9-2, AJ Mazzurco manufactured a run in the bottom of the fifth, advancing to second and third on wild pitches before scoring on a double play groundout by Casey Scoggins.
Roger Gonzalez homered (2) in the sixth inning to cut the deficit even further, and back to back doubles by Andrew Fears and AJ Mazzurco, and a single by Chipper Andzel made it a 9-7 game.
Seminole shut the Saints down over the next two innings, allowing just one base runner.
In the bottom of the ninth, it looked like it may go the same way as the previous two innings as Raiders reliever Cameron Haynes got the first two batters of the inning to pop out to the infield. Jonathan Camp stepped in and worked a two out walk, bringing Lusignan to the plate. With a 3-2 count, Lusignan delivered the hit of the game, driving the ball across 83rd street to tie the game 9-9.
Vail shutout SSC in the top of the tenth and the Saints carried the momentum over, getting their first two runners on base in the bottom half of the inning. Seminole walked the third batter of the inning to load the bases and the strategy paid off as Chipper Andzel hit into a fielder’s choice for the first out of the inning. Casey Scoggins stepped in next and hit a ground ball to the second baseman who threw home, but the ball was dropped by the catcher, allowing Fears to score the winning run.
The Saints scored their 10 runs on 10 hits, including three homeruns. Fears finished the game 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored, AJ Mazzurco was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a RBI, Camp was 1-for-3 with a homerun, three runs scored and two RBI, and Lusignan was 1-for-4 with a homerun.
Santa Fe will host Lake Sumter State College on Wednesday, April 16 at 3:00 PM in a crucial Mid-Florida Conference match-up. The game can be heard live on www.floridacast.com or www.theprepzone.com.
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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