GAINESVILLE, Fla. – For the fourth consecutive time this season, Santa Fe Baseball's offense put up double-digit runs against St. Johns River State College, helping the Saints to a 10-3 victory at the SF Baseball Field.

An RBI walk from Jake McKee opened the game's scoring in the bottom of the first, then the Saints opened the game up with five runs in their next at-bats in the second.

After walks from Zeb Marquis and Jevin Relaford, Xavier Moronta turned on a pitch and took it to right field for his second-consecutive game with a homer. Tyler Shelnut singled and then scored on a double from Gabriel Esquivel to make it 5-0. McKee had his second RBI of the game with a double to drive in the sixth run.

Although the Vikings cut the deficit in half with three runs in the top of the third, starter Garfield Johns started to have some smooth innings from the mound, and the Saints' offense kept on humming.

In the bottom of the fourth, Santiago Garavito had an RBI double, then McKee later scored him for his third RBI to bring the score to 8-3.

The final two runs of the game came from a Moronta RBI single in the fifth and a solo bomb from Shelnut over the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth.

Key Statistics

Johns (5-3) pitched through the first seven innings to earn the win, with a line that included nine hits, three earned runs, three walks, and five strikeouts.

Tobin Moran held SJR quiet over the final two innings, conceding just one hit while striking out one as well.

Shelnut's home run was his team-leading 17th, as he moved into No. 2 in the NJCAA for that category. It was the third consecutive game that Shelnut connected for a long ball.

Five different players had multi-hit games, as SF totaled 12 hits in total. The top four in the order, Moronta, Shelnut, Esquivel, and Garavito were extremely productive once again, combining for eight hits, two doubles, and the Shelnut/Moronta homers.

Moronta led SF with four RBI from the leadoff spot, while McKee tallied three.

Up Next

Santa Fe (24-20, 12-11 MFC) moved ahead of St. Johns River (23-24, 11-11 MFC) to get into the No. 3 position in the standings, and will aim for the sweep when the two teams take to the field on Saturday, Apr. 16 at 1:00 p.m. in Palatka.