GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 16 Santa Fe Baseball played host to Polk State on Friday afternoon, and the visiting Eagles had a productive day at the plate to beat the Saints by a 9-5 score.

How it Happened

The Eagles set the tone early by jumping in front 3-0 after the top half of the first inning.

The Polk State lead had doubled to 6-0 headed to the bottom of the third, when SF finally got onto the scoreboard. Jevin Relaford had an RBI single score Luke Marquis, then the Saints took advantage of an error to plate another run.

In the bottom of the fourth, Gabriel Esquivel led off with a line-drive homer. Tyler Shelnut doubled, then touched home on an RBI single from Billy Graham to bring the score to 6-4.

It appeared as if SF was on their way to a comeback from the early deficit, but the Eagles scored two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to go in front 9-4.

SF added a single tally in the eighth, what proved to be the game's final run, on a second solo shot from Esquivel.

Key Statistics

Polk State had 15 hits to SF's ten.

For the Saints, Relaford and Esquivel had multi-hit efforts, with Esquivel trotting around the bases with the two long balls.

Garfield Johns, who was dominant in his first start this season on the mound, was charged with the loss after completing four innings. Jalen Hudson and Gaven Book made appearances out of the bullpen in the loss.

Up Next

No. 16 Santa Fe (3-2) looks to get back into the win column during a doubleheader at home on Saturday, Feb. 5 with South Florida State College. Game 1 begins at noon.