GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After winning the 2021 Mid-Florida Conference Championship, Santa Fe College Baseball began their 2022 defense of the MFC title with the opener of a three-game set with the College of Central Florida Patriots, coming from behind for a thrilling 8-6 victory.

The Saints grabbed a 2-0 lead in the opening inning, when Gabriel Esquivel had an RBI double followed by a sacrifice fly from Xavier Moronta in his first at-bat in his return to the lineup.

Central Florida countered with a single run in the second, then took a 4-2 lead in the third on a three-run homer.

Tyler Shelnut belted a solo home run in the fifth to draw the Saints to within a single run, 4-3, but the Patriots extended their lead out to 6-3 with two more runs in the sixth.

SF had their backs against the wall a bit, knowing they would need to mount a comeback in the final innings.

The Saints did just that. The comeback trail began in the seventh inning when Shelnut had an RBI double, then Zeb Marquis touched home on a passed ball to bring the score to 6-5.

The eighth inning was when SF took the lead for good. The Saints loaded the bases with no outs. After a fly out, Z. Marquis had a great at-bat, eventually hitting a sacrifice fly to right field to tie the game at 6-6.

After Jevin Relaford was hit by a pitch, Shelnut's bat was due up with the bases loaded. No. 6 came through in the clutch with a single into left center field to bring home two baserunners, Dylan Mock and Zeth Rodriguez.

Now holding the 8-6 lead, Lance Bolton took the mound to replace Jake Blair, who had tossed two scoreless frames out of the bullpen.

Bolton picked up his first save of the season by retiring the first two, then bouncing back from a single to induce the final out, a fly out to Moronta.

Nevada Cullen of the Saints Sports Network collected some postgame thoughts from Tyler Shelnut, who drove in the winning runs with a two-RBI single in the 8th to help give the Saints a victory in the Mid-Florida Conference opener! #SicEmSaints pic.twitter.com/OJ0eUXURjb

— Santa Fe Saints (@santafesaints) March 5, 2022

Key Statistics

In addition to his go-ahead, two RBI single in the eighth, Shelnut was just a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-of-4 with two runs scored, four RBI, and a walk.  

Esquivel was the other Saint with an extra-base knock with his RBI double in the opening inning. Moronta and Z. Marquis each had sacrifice fly's.

On the mound, the starter Mitchell Gross had the no-decision. Blair moved to 2-2 with two solid, scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth, handing the ball over to Bolton for his first save of the season in the ninth.

Up Next

Santa Fe (13-9, 1-0 MFC) and the College of Central Florida (13-12, 0-1 MFC) will play the second game of the series in Ocala, Fla. on Monday, Mar. 7 at 2:00 p.m.