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Saints baseball falls to No. 7 Wooster in Florida finale

Posted 3/25/18

The St. Lawrence baseball team finished its week at the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Florida with a 6-2 loss to seventh-ranked Wooster on Saturday afternoon. Both Evan O'Keeffe and James Cronin …

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Saints baseball falls to No. 7 Wooster in Florida finale

Posted

The St. Lawrence baseball team finished its week at the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Florida with a 6-2 loss to seventh-ranked Wooster on Saturday afternoon.

Both Evan O'Keeffe and James Cronin finished 2-for-3 to lead St. Lawrence at the plate, while starter Caleb Clarke went six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with a pair of strikeouts. He kept the nationally ranked Fighting Scots off the board through the first four innings, giving St. Lawrence an opportunity to take the lead.

The Saints got out in front of Wooster with the game's first run in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Wooster went on to tie the game 1-1 in the top of the fifth before adding two more runs in the sixth to take the lead for good at 3-1. They combined to score three more in the final two frames, with the Saints added their second run in their last at-bats in the bottom of the ninth.

With one out and two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth, O'Keeffe drove in Tyler Guido with a sacrifice fly to center field for a 1-0 Saints lead. Guido replaced Brendon Frank as a pinch runner after Frank singled and moved to third on a double by Anthony Butler. The inning ended when Cronin was caught stealing with the Saints' stranding Butler at third base.

Wooster's Jake Fling manufactured the game-tying run in the top of the fifth with a single and two stolen bases to put himself in scoring position before coming home on a sacrifice fly to center.

Fling then picked up an RBI in the sixth when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 2-1 in favor of the Fighing Scots. They added another run in the inning on a fielder's course to take a 3-1 lead.

With a 4-1 lead in the top of the ninth, Wooster added two more runs on three hits, including a solo home run by Garrett Crum to push the margin to 6-1.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Saints scored their final run with the help of a walk, two hits from O'Keeffe and Cronin and a wild pitch that moved runners into scoring position. Cronin picked up the RBI on an infield single that brought Butler in to score.

With the loss, the Saints fall to 1-7 on the year, while Wooster improves to 9-3.