Fort Pierce, FL - The Santa Fe baseball team hit the road on Saturday to finish up a three game series versus Indian River State College. On Thursday, the Saints beat the Pioneers 8-1 at home. Today, the Pioneers won the first game 6-1, but the Saints held on to win Game 2 6-5. The Saints win the series over the Pioneers 2-1. The Saints are now 14-9 on the season.

How It Happened

Game 1

The Pioneers started out strong. They put up the first run of the game in the first inning as their defense stifled the Saints' usually potent offensive attack. 

In the third inning, the Pioneers had their biggest inning of the game scoring five runs. This put the Pioneers up 6-0 over the Saints. Brett Patten opened up the lead for the Pioneers by hitting a solo home run to right field in the inning. 

In the fifth inning, the Saints defense shut down the Pioneers' offense. This led to signs of momentum for the Saints in the sixth inning. Leadoff batter Wyatt Campbell doubled on a line drive to left field. He then advanced to third on an error. AJ Barrios hit an RBI double, bringing in Wyatt Campbell and giving the Saints their first and only run of the game.

The final score was 6-1 Pioneers.

Game 2

In Game 2, it was the Saints who gained control early on. Grant Gallagher set the stage for the Saints by hitting a leadoff solo home run over the left field fence. In the second inning, Anthony Fimiano hit a hard ground ball to center field bringing in Drake Harman and extending the Saints' lead to 2-0.

The Pioneers scored their first run in the second inning when Jassiel Valbuena scored Matthew Rubin on a fielder's choice.    

In the third inning, the Saints increased their lead with an RBI double from Wyatt Campbell to score Javier Soto and AJ Barrios and extend the Saints' lead to 4-1.

The Saints scored another run in the sixth inning, but the Pioneers were able to score three runs, which brought them within one run of the lead.  

Defense took over in the seventh and eighth innings setting the stage for a tight finish. In the top of the ninth inning, the Saints struck first. Griffin Sorrow bunted into a fielder's choice to Zach Dejesus and extend the lead to 6-4.

The Pioneers would not go away quietly, as they too would score a run in the ninth inning on an RBI double from Maikol Ruiz with only one out. The next out came as Matthew Lashly lined out to third base. The final out came on a foul tip. The Saints survived with a final score of 6-5.

Comments From Coach Wiggs

"Really proud of our guys for bouncing back from a game one loss to grind out a game two win. We had some really good at bats against some quality Indian River pitching. Colby Rice was terrific for us going the last three plus innings. We needed that series to keep us toward the top of the conference."

Up Next

The Saints will travel to Tallahassee to face Tallahassee Community College. The single game is scheduled for March 5th, with the first pitch scheduled for 3PM EST.