Gainesville, FL

Santa Fe was swept by Indian River State College in Saturday Afternoon's doubleheader in Gainesville, Florida. Here's what happened:

Matthew Pagan got the start for the Saints in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader against Indian River.  The first game had a very similar framework to Thursday's contest in Fort Pierce, Florida, as The Saints were unable to tame the red-hot Indian River bats. The Pioneers jumped on Santa Fe pitching early, stringing together 5 straight base hits to start the game, fueling a 5 run first inning putting the Saints in an early deficit. After Santa Fe's batters went down in order in the bottom of the 1st inning, Indian River loaded the bases in the top of the second and a two run home run by the 7-hole hitter capped a 4 run frame extending the lead to 9-0 in two innings. Santa Fe's first base hit came in the third inning by Aiden Andreu who went 1-for-2 in the first game. 2.1 innings of relief pitching by Mitchell Marlowe held the Pioneers scoreless in the 4th inning. Facing a 11-0 deficit with Indian River scoring two runs in the third inning, Santa Fe was able to answer back and push their first run across the board as Ryan Chase, Zack Dejesus, and Trey Freeman all singled, with Maddox Lee pushing a run across after he drew a walk. A melody of errors cost Santa Fe, as their deficit was extended to 13-1 after a 2-out throwing error kept the Pioneers at the plate and led to two more runs. Ryan Chase was the only Saint in Game 1 to have a multi-hit game, as he hit his 5th Home Run of the year with a 2-run shot to left field to make it 13-3 Pioneers. Game 1 was only a 5 inning affair as the Saints suffered their second straight run-rule loss to Indian River

Game 2 started much differently for Santa Fe, as a 4-run first inning helped them get out to a 4-1 lead early in the contest. Robert Nedry, Erik Blair, and Rex Smith all singled in the inning, prompting an early mound visit by Pioneers Head Coach Frank Torre to settle the IR starter. Santa Fe scored all 4 runs in the inning with two outs. Indian River scored the next five runs of the contest, two sacrifice flys added a pair of runs in the 2nd inning and three more runs were added in the fourth to take back the lead 6-4. Aiden Andreu scored Santa Fe's fifth run of the game off of a Nedry fielder's choice to make it 6-5 Indian River after four innings played. No lead was safe in the latter half of the double header as Indian River hit a solo Home Run in the 5th to take back the lead at 6-5. More hits and a two out double added four more runs for a 10-5 advantage over The Saints. Zack Dejesus hit a 3-run Home Run in the 5th inning to chase the Pioneer starter and cut the lead to 10-8. IR doubled their lead in the top half of the eighth inning, but that was short lived after Rex Smith doubled to score Dejesus and Ryan Chase drove in two runs to cut the Pioneer lead to 12-11. Santa Fe was unable to manufacture any more offense in the ninth inning, ending the game trailing 12-11. 

The Saints used a multitude of arms to close the day: efforts by Lucas Johns, Stephen Joyce, Macklin Miller, and Dylan Lovelace were used to fulfill the full 9 innings. 

Santa Fe Baseball will make the trip to Miami, Florida for one game on Thursday, March 5th at 4:00 PM before the Sharks make the return trip for the weekend series on March 8th.