March 16, 2016

Photo: Johnny Wiggs is greeted by Santa Fe President Dr. Jackson Sasser upon his return to the college after his 500th win.

Box Score

Gainesville, FL – For a former professional pitcher, it was only fitting that Coach Johnny Wiggs 500^th career win came in a 4-1 victory marked by stellar pitching and solid defense.  Trent Johnson (4-1) turned in seven innings of one run baseball, scattering seven hits and striking out five.  Reliever Troy Bacon notched his team best sixth save with two innings of scoreless relief in the FCSAA #1/Perfect Game #9 Saints 4-1 victory over Daytona State College Wednesday afternoon.

Coach Wiggs, whose career record now stands at 500-340, joins SF fastpitch coach Chris Ahern as active coaches at Santa Fe with 500 career wins.

"For a baseball coach, 500 wins is a measure of excellence that reflects knowledge of the game and the ability to teach young men how to succeed at a high level," remarked SF Athletic Director Jim Keites.  "Johnny has a passion for coaching second to none. We look forward to many, many more wins here at Santa Fe under his leadership."

To get to 500, the Saints had to defeat a scrappy Daytona team they'd split the first two games of their series with.  The score was tied 1-1 going into the top of the sixth when Santa Fe finally broke through.  Two sacrifice flies and a two out RBI single by Stephen Smith proved to be the difference in the game as the SF pitchers shut down the Falcons.

Five hundred wins isn't an easy task, and according to Coach Wiggs, a lot of people helped make that number possible.

"Five hundred wins means I have been doing this a while and that I've had a lot of really good players and assistant coaches along the way," said Wiggs.  "I thank them all and appreciate all the gestures and congratulations from friends, family, and former players."

The victory over DSC improves Santa Fe to 26-4 overall and 8-1 in Mid-Florida Conference play.  Kyle Phillips continued to swing a hot bat, connecting on three hits, and Matt Allen and Hugo Valdes had two each.  Johnson earned his fourth win by not walking a batter for the third time this year.  He's walked one or zero in six of seven starts.

"Trent was his normal solid self today," said Wiggs.  "He kept them off balance and threw a ton of strikes.  Bacon has been so good for us all year and today was no different."

The Saints will take a few well deserved days off before returning to action on Saturday against LaFleche College at 12 noon in a double header.

For complete schedules, stats, and more information please visit www.santafesaints.com. 

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