Spring Arbor, Mich. --The University of Saint Francis (Ind). Cougars baseball team faced off against the Spring Arbor University Cougars to finish off this crossroads league matchup on Saturday. They were dominant on both sides of the ball and came away with two wins to take the series.

The USF offense dominated in game 1 hitting four homeruns including 2 grand slams. They started off by scoring two in the first off of an rbi single from Xavier Croxton and sacrifice fly from Ayden Lichtensteiger. They blew the game open in the second with back to back homeruns. Xavier Croxton hit a grand slam and Sam Pesa had a solo shot. Eli Riley homered in the third to make this a 8-0 ballgame. Spring Arbor plated 1 in the bottom of the third, but USF responded again. Eli Riley had an rbi single in the fourth to get that run back. In the fifth, Sam Pesa drew a bases loaded walk and Nick Parsons hit a grand slam, extending their lead to 15-1. SAU tried to come back but this one finished in 7 innings due to run rule, USF on top 16-3.

USF found themselves down 2-0 after the first three innings, but that is all SAU would get off of Deron Swanson. He went five innings with 4 strikeouts. The Cougar offense came alive in the fourth with a lead off double from Sam Pesa and single by Eli Riley to bring him in. In the top of the fifth, Ayden Lichtensteiger tied it up with a single, and Eli Riley took the lead with a sacrifice fly. They scored again in the sixth from a Jayden Lepper double and Xavier Croxton sacrifice fly. Graham Kelham came in for the last two innings and went to work. He got two strikeouts and came out of this one with his conference leading 7th save on the year. USF wins this one 5-2 and takes the series 3-1.

There were many key contributors for the Cougars on the day. Xavier Croxton was 3-6 with a grand slam, six rbis, and two walks. Nick Parsons had a double and a grand slam to give him 4 rbis across both games. Sam Pesa was 3-6 with a homerun, 2 rbis, and 2 walks. And Eli Riley was 4-6 with four rbis to go along with a homerun of his own as well. Blaine McRae threw five innings getting 7 strikeouts while only allowing 1 run in his start. Andrew Kent got an inning of work and struck out 2 of the three batters he faced. And Deron Swanson and Graham Kelham were electric all of game 2. 

The Cougars are now 20-13 and 10-10 in conference play. They will take on the Marian University Knights at Cougar Field Friday for another conference matchup. The first pitch will be at 1:00 PM est. The Knights are 16-13 and 11-7 in conference. 

Cougar fans stay updated with all events and recaps with USF Athletics by visiting saintfranciscougars.com or by downloading the Saint Francis Cougars app.

- Sam Pesa -