SPINA, ELASIK HOMER TWICE, SAINTS POUND SJRCC 13-4

March 29, 2010

For Immediate Release March 29, 2010 Contact: Scott Jamison 352-395-5616 scott.jamison@sfcollege.edu

SF BASEBALL

SPINA, ELASIK HOMER TWICE, SAINTS POUND SJRCC 13-4

Gainesville, FL – The Santa Fe Saints (17-12, 8-5 MFC) hit six homeruns on Monday night in a 13-4 win over St. John's River CC, giving them 16 round trippers over the last three games and 42 runs over the same stretch.  The win moves them a half game behind Central Florida CC for first in the MFC

Gary Merians (4-3) started the game on the mound and pitched 7.2 innings, surrendering four runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts.  Three of the runs came in the eighth inning on two SJRCC homeruns.  Ory Pitts pitched the final out of the eighth inning, inducing a fly out and Jake Stridfeldt finished the game out with a scoreless ninth.

“Gary Merians was outstanding again,” said Coach Johnny Wiggs.  “He is so consistent at getting deep into the games for us.  He had a very good fastball tonight.”

The Saints, winners of six straight MFC games, jumped all over the Vikings in the first inning, scoring four runs to open the game.  Leadoff batter Austin Lawrence walked, TJ Spina doubled him home, Moyer doubled Spina home and Mike Miranda hit his tenth homerun of the season to put SF up 4-0 just four batters into the game. 

“Our hitters have really done a great job lately,” said Wiggs.  “Sixteen homeruns and 42 runs in three games is pretty special.”

SJRCC managed to get one run back in the bottom of the first, but that's all Gary Merians would give up until the eighth.

In the second inning, the Saints scored twice more on an Elasik homerun and an RBI single by Miranda, making the score 6-1.

Joe Clouse led the sixth inning off with a blast over the right center field fence and in the eighth TJ Spina homered for an 8-1 Saints lead.

SJRCC attempted to make things interesting in the eighth with three runs, but the Saints answered with five runs in the ninth to put the game out of reach.  Elasik and Spina both him two run homeruns in the inning and Bryce Johnston hit a pinch hit RBI single for the final run of the game.

TJ Spina finished 4-for-6 with two HR, a double, four runs scored and four RBI, Mike Miranda was 3-for-5 with a HR and three RBI (he leads the team with 10 HR and 49 RBI on the year), Cory Elasik was 2-for-4 with two HR and three RBI and Joe Clouse and Brett Bozeman had two hits apiece.

The Saints next game is at home on Wednesday against Florida State College at Jacksonville at 3:00pm.

For more information and a complete schedule, please visit santafesaints.com.  Join the Santa Fe College Athletics Facebook Fanpage for game photos, up to date info and more.

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