Gainesville, FL – On Saturday afternoon, Santa Fe Saints baseball faced the Daytona State College Falcons at home for a doubleheader. On Thursday, the Saints lost the first game of the series at Daytona with a walk-off grand slam 13-9. The Saints won the first game today 5-1 and lost the second game with a score of 9-7. The Saints' record advances to 12-7.

How It Happened

Game 1

Justin Jackson started on the mound for the Santa Fe Saints early this afternoon. He pitched the whole seven innings and allowed five hits, zero earned runs, and had 11 strikeouts. He had an impressive two strikeouts caught looking in the first inning and closed out the game with another two strikeouts.

Grant Gallagher, Cory Filley, BJ Graham, Landon Rogers, Drake Harman, and Griffin Sorrow all had one hit each, with Cory Filley also having two stunning RBIs.

The starting pitcher for the Falcons was Bryce Roth. He pitched three innings, allowed three hits, three earned runs, and had one strikeout. The Falcons' leading hitter was Nate Cannizzaro with two hits.

Grant Gallagher scored the first run for the Saints thanks to a pop fly from Cory Filley in the first inning. Drake Harman hit a huge double for the Saints early in the second inning, eventually making it home off a single by Grant Gallagher, improving the score to 2-0. Landon Rogers hit a crucial home run in the bottom of the sixth to secure the Saints' lead and improve the score to 5-1.

Overall, the Saints had a total of six hits this afternoon in Game 1 and the Falcons had five hits. The final score was 5-1.

Game 2

Matthew Jenkins led off on the mound in Game 2 for the Saints. He pitched two innings and allowed four hits, one earned run, and had three strikeouts. Anthony Scarpino followed after him on the mound. He had three strikeouts during the third inning, his first inning on the mound. Nick Davidson, Colby Rice, and Nick Staszak finished off the game for the Saints in the circle.

Grant Gallagher was the leading hitter for the Saints. He had a total of three hits and one RBI. Javier Soto, AJ Barrios, Cory Filley, Anthony Fimiano, and Landon Rogers also had two hits throughout Game 2. AJ Barrios had an impressive three RBIs.

The starting pitcher for the Falcons was Brady Ham. He pitched 3.1 innings, allowed five hits, three earned runs, and had two strikeouts. Jaxon Junnila was the Daytona State leading hitter with three hits.

AJ Barrios came into the first inning and hit a double, scoring Grant Gallagher and Javier Soto to put the Saints up 2-0. Wyatt Campbell hit a game-changing double in the third inning and made it to home plate off of a single from AJ Barrios to tie the score at 3-3. Grant Gallagher batted first in the bottom of the seventh inning and hit a home run to re-tie the game at 4-4. Anthony Fimiano then went on to hit a double to bring home AJ Barrios to put the Saints back on top 5-4.

In the eighth inning, Daytona went on a tear to score five runs. In the ninth inning, Cory Filley and Landon Rogers made it onto base, allowing Cory Filley to make it home to decrease the Saints' deficit to 9-7.

In Game 2, the Saints had a total of 16 hits while the Falcons had 10 hits. The final score for Game 2 was 9-7.

Comments From Coach Wiggs

Justin Jackson was great again for us throwing a complete game (CG) and saving our bullpen for Game 2. He has been so good for us, going 5-0 in his five starts. Our hitters were outstanding in Game 2 with 16 hits and lined out 4-5 times.  Disappointing not to come away with a win there, but we will continue to fight to get better.

Up Next

Up next, the Saints will travel to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on Tuesday, February 27^th in Tifton, Georgia. The first pitch will be thrown at 3:00PM EST.