
Saints Homer Their Way Past Central Florida, 14-4
Gainesville, FL – The Santa Fe offense continued its torrid streak on Wednesday afternoon in the Mid-Florida Conference opener, pounding out 18 hits, including three homeruns, in a 14-4 seven inning mercy rule win over the College of Central Florida (15-7, 0-1 MFC). The win is the eleventh in a row for Coach Johnny Wiggs and the Saints (19-3, 1-0 MFC).
March 2, 2016
Gainesville, FL – The Santa Fe offense continued its torrid streak on Wednesday afternoon in the Mid-Florida Conference opener, pounding out 18 hits, including three homeruns, in a 14-4 seven inning mercy rule win over the College of Central Florida (15-7, 0-1 MFC). The win is the eleventh in a row for Coach Johnny Wiggs and the Saints (19-3, 1-0 MFC).
Santa Fe took an early 1-0 lead after the first inning, but quickly fell behind 2-1 after the second. The damage could have been worse, but SF starter Trent Johnson (3-1) was able to work out of trouble in each of the first three innings thanks to ground ball double plays in each of the frames, cutting short any Patriots rallies.
Santa Fe opened up a 6-2 lead thanks to a five run third inning. Stephen Smith provided the big blow, hammering a three run homer over the right field fence. Haydn Cano kept the rally going with big two out RBI hits to increase the lead to four.
In the sixth Brandon Hernandez drilled a two run home with no one out and later in the inning Tyler Kinney hit his fourth homerun of the season to push the lead to 12-2.
Central Florida got two runs back off Johnson in the seventh, but SF ended the game in the bottom half of the inning on a Cole Parks infield single RBI, and a game winning RBI from Smith, his fourth of the game. Smith is now hitting .388 with two homeruns and 17 RBI
Seven players had multiple hits for SF, and nine players had at least one. Smith was 2-for-4 with a homer and four RBI, Matt Allen was 3-for-4 with a double and a RBI, Tyler Kinney was 3-for-4 with a homer, two runs scored, and three RBI, and Brandon Hernandez was 2-for-5 with two runs scored, two RBI, and his third HR of the season.
The Saints and Patriots will continue their three game series in Ocala on Friday at 3:00 PM, and wrap it up in Gainesville on Saturday at 3:00 PM. Fans can watch the game in Gainesville on the Saints Sports Network.
For complete schedules, stats, and more information please visit www.santafesaints.com.
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