HENDERSON — The Freed-Hardeman University Lions finished a four-game sweep of the University of St. Francis (Ill.) Fighting Saints with a pair of Saturday wins. After a 10-6 victory in the day's opener, it took an eighth inning home run to secure a 7-5 win in the finale.
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Game 1
St. Francis - 6
Freed-Hardeman - 10
The Lions (12-3) showed off their power in the first game of the day, combining for five extra-base hits. The biggest swing of the day came in the form of a grand slam from
Drake Blackwood in the fourth inning.
St. Francis (3-8) added two late runs, but FHU's big fourth and fifth was enough to keep the lead for the win.
Drake Blackwood and
Chase Eakes both had two hits with one being a homer run. Blackwood's five RBI led FHU's run production.
Jackson Hines (3-0) earned the victory after five innings where he struck out two batters.
Scoring Summary
Top 2
USF had hot bats to begin the day, tallying four runs on three hits in the second inning.
FHU 0, USF 4
Bottom 2
Chase Eakes bounced back for the Lions with a leadoff homer that just sneaked inside the pole in left field.
FHU 1, USF 4
Bottom 4
The Lions drew three walks in the bottom of the fourth to go along with an Eakes single.
Brennan Petersen's walk drove in a run while keeping the bases loaded for
Drake Blackwood, who dispatched a grand slam over the wall in right to take the lead.
FHU 6, USF 4
Bottom 5
Brennen Gibson led off the inning with.a single, followed by a two-bagger from
Brooks Jones. Both would score on
JJ Pruneau's two-run double. Blackwood's single would drive in another run to cushion FHU's lead.
FHU 10, USF 4
Top 6
The Saints added a run in an inning that saw three hits and a walk.
FHU 10, USF 5
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Game 2
St. Francis - 5
Freed-Hardeman - 7
In the second game of the day, the Lions (13-3) took an early lead, but the Fighting Saints took a lead with a four-run third inning. FHU then shut down the USF bats, not allowing another run to cross the rest of the game.
In the other dugout, the Lions chipped away at the lead with a two-run fourth before tying with the Saints (3-9) in the seventh.
Drake Blackwood hammered a no-doubter over the scoreboard in right field to give FHU the lead they would ride out until the final out.
Drake Blackwood went 3-for-3 in the second game while driving in two. Four other Lions had multiple hits with
JJ Pruneau driving in two run.
Grayson Waller had the start before giving way to
Colton Bryant (1-1) who shut down the saints with four strikeouts in six innings of shutout work.
Scoring Summary
Top 1
St. Francis had a leadoff single before a second single put the first run on the board for the visitors.
FHU 0, USF 1
Bottom 1
Trace Anderson led things off for FHU by drawing a six-pitch walk before taking second on a wild pitch.
Brooks Jones would drive Anderson home with a ground-rule double before scoring himself on
JJ Pruneau's double.
FHU 2, USF 1
Top 3
The Fighting Saints zeroed in on the ball, connecting for six base hits: all of which were singles. Two of those singles came as intended sacrifices, but the speedy runners beat out the throws.Â
FHU 2, USF 5
Bottom 4
Freed-Hardeman began the comeback in the fourth inning when
Dean Bechman led off with a walk, later scoring on Anderson's RBI double. Anderson himself would later score on
Hunter Ryan's single.
FHU 4, USF 5
Bottom 7
Hunter Ryan came out of the seventh-inning stretch with a single up the middle before being able to take second after a long flyout. Pruneau would later drive in Ryan as the tying run with a single to left.
FHU 5, USF 5
Bottom 8
Colin Milligan entered in a pinch hitting role where he had a leadoff single. It was Blackwood's power that gave the Lions what proved to be the winning runs with a massive home run to right.
FHU 7, USF 5
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Up Next
A schedule shakeup bring the Indiana University Southeast Grenadiers to Henderson on March 3 for a single nine-inning game.
