Chase's Two Home Runs Powers Saints Past Lakehawks
Ryan Chase hit a home run in the first and fifth innings, collecting three RBIs
Gainesville, FL
Santa Fe Baseball (9-6, 0-3) hosted the Lake-Sumter State College Lakehawks (9-8, 0-0) on Tuesday, February 17th, securing a 9-7 win.
After Lake-Sumter scored in the top of the first, the Saints responded with a Ryan Chase home run to take a 2-1 lead.
Shawn Andrade and JP Espinosa both hit a double in the second inning. Hits by Noah Hayse and Hayden Montanez brought them home and the Saints extended their lead to 4-1.
The Lakehawks cut the Saints' lead to 4-3 in the top of the fifth, but Chase responded in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run to increase the lead to 5-3.
Lake-Sumter tied the game 5-5 in the top of the seventh with a solo home run by Velardi and a double by Galan. The Saints regained the lead 9-5 in the bottom of the seventh thanks to RBI singles by Cole Carnell and James Suarez, and a two-RBI double by Andrade.
Two errors by the Saints allowed the Lakehawks to cut the lead to 9-7 with one out in the top of the ninth. After giving up a walk to load the bases, James Suarez ended the game with a six-pitch strikeout.
Ben Monger earned the win for Santa Fe, allowing one hit, one walk, and zero runs while recording two strikeouts over one and one-third innings. Austin Cardozo started for the Saints, allowing one hit and one run with one strikeout over two innings. Braylon Reynante opened the game for Lake-Sumter State College, allowing five hits and four runs over two innings.
The Saints collected 14 hits in the game. Ryan Chase, Cole Carnell, James Suarez, Shawn Andrade, and JP Espinosa all collected multiple hits. Chase led the team with three hits and two home runs.
Santa Fe will host Hillsborough Community College (9-6, 1-2) on Thursday, February 19th at 2:00pm.
