Gainesville, FL

Santa Fe (20-23, 9-19) hosted Eastern Florida State College (16-29, 9-19) on Thursday, April 16th and came out on top of a one run game

The Eastern Florida Titans took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning with a leadoff walk followed by a triple and a sacrifice fly. The Saints ended the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.

Shawn Andrade doubled after Akhil Nimmala drew a one-out walk to give the Saints runners at third and second in the bottom of the second, but the pair was left stranded.

Ray Yero hit his second RBI-triple of the game, scored on a single by Ethan Askin, and Askin scored on a double by Richie Collazo to extend the Titans' lead to 5-0 in the top of the fourth.

Maddox Lee hit a single in the bottom of the fourth to bring home Nimmala and give the Saints their first run of the game, putting the score at 5-1.

James Suarez hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Saints' deficit to 5-2, and a wild pitch by the Titans allowed Cole Carnell to advance home and bring the score to 5-3.

Tucker Hansen hit a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth, and Suarez delivered another home run to tie the game 5-5.

A Saints error after a Titans single allowed the Titans to score in the top of the seventh, and another Titans single gave Eastern Florida a 7-5 lead.

Singles by Carnell and Andrade put the pair in position to score from a Titans error and tie the game 7-7 in the bottom of the seventh. Andrades single hopped right past the right fielder all the way to the fence which led him to round the bases and score on the same play.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, Carnell beat out the throw on a sharply hit ball down the line with the bases loaded to give the Saints a one run advantage 8-7 going into the ninth before Kaden Howell shut the door and secured the final out for the Saints.

The Saints will travel to Melbourne, FL on Saturday, April 18th to take on the same Eastern Florida team for a doubleheader starting at 1:00pm.