Gainesville, FL. – On Saturday afternoon, Santa Fe Saints baseball faced the Daytona State College Falcons at home for a double header. 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 7-9. 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 7.0 innings and allowed five hits, zero earned runs, and had eleven 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 Harmon, and Griffin Sorrow all had one hit each, with Cory Filley also having two stunning RBI's.

The starting pitcher for the Falcons was Bryce Roth. He pitched 3.0 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 Harmon hit a huge double for the Saints early in the 2^nd inning eventually making it home off a single by Grant Gallagher, improving the score to 2-0. Landon Rogers hit a crucial homerun in the bottom of the 6^th to secure the Saints' lead and improve the score to 5-1.

Overall, the Saints had a total of 6 hits this afternoon in game 1 and the Falcons had 5 hits. The final score was 5-1.

Game 2

Matthew Jenkins led off on the mound in game 2 for the Saints. He pitched 2.0 innings and allowed 4 hits, 1 earned run, and had 3 strikeouts. Anthony Scarpino followed after him on the mound. He had 3 strikeouts during the 3^rd 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 RBI's.

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 1^st 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 3^rd 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 7^th 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 8th inning Daytona went on a tear scoring five runs.  In the 9^th inning, Cory Filley and Landon Rogers made it onto base allowing Cory Filley to make it home to decrease the Falcons' deficit to 7-9.

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

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 sixteen 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.