Leading comfortably early in the game the Santa Fe Saints had to rally late and hold off late scoring by the Kalamazoo Valley Cougars to pull out an 11-9 win in Gainesville Friday afternoon.

Hunter Corbett it his first home run of the year with one on in the third inning and Caleb Stafford connected for his second home run of the year with one on in the fourth to help SF build a 6-1 lead heading into the seventh inning.

KVCC (0-1), in the first of a week of games in Florida, were not about to go away quietly. The Cougars rallied for five runs in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 6-6.

SF (17-4) answered the Cougar rally with a five-run inning of their own with Jevin Relaford contributing with a bases-loaded single that scored two and put the Saints up 11-6.

KVCC scored a run in the eighth and two in the ninth but Mitchell Gross got the final out to end the game. Lance Bolton (2-1) earned the win.

Luis Rodriguez had three hits in the game while Coy Phillips had two.

The Saints, ranked fifth in the state and 17^th in the nation, will take the weekend off as they prepare for opening of their Mid-Florida Conference schedule on Monday when they host Daytona State College for a game in Gainesville scheduled to start at 3 pm.

For all SF athletics schedules, stats and more visit santafesaints.com.