Baseball sweeps MacMurray and remains only undefeated team in SLIAC play

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne University baseball swept MacMurray College today 5-3 and 18-8 to stay undefeated in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play (7-0) and move ahead to a 12-9 overall record. The 18-8 win is the Griffins third 10-run ruled win this season. MacMurray is 4-0 in the East Division, but Fontbonne remains the only team undefeated against SLIAC opponents across both divisions.

Game one: Fontbonne opened up with two runs in the first thanks to a triple by Ben Greenway and a single by Zach Carel. MacMurray scored three runs in the third inning that included a two-run home run.

Starting pitcher Vince Santarsiero received some great defense from his team in the top of the seventh as the Griffins trailed by a run. With runners on second and third and zero outs, MacMurray hit a soft grounder towards third base. Devon Tolan scooped up the fielder's choice, and thanks to Tanner Carter on the bench, realized the runner on third was headed home. The Griffins turned both runners into outs in two rundown plays which consisted of five players including Santarsiero. The third base runner was rundown Tolan-Patrick Shuff-Ethan Boyer-Santarsiero while the runner on second was out Santarsiero-Ben Stratton-Shuff.

With momentum their way, Shuff opened the bottom of the seventh with a bomb to center that hit the scoreboard, tieing the game. The Griffins found themselves with two outs and Greenway on first base when MacMurray made a pitching change. Matt Wallis then stepped up to the plate and hit the walk-off game-winning two-run home run to center. The homer is the first walk-off home run under head coach Ryan Good (ninth season). Santarsiero got the complete-game win, his third of the season while the Griffins totaled 10 hits.

Game two: Fontbonne continued their seventh-inning hitting in the second matchup against MacMurray. Fontbonne posted 10 runs in the third inning on 14 at-bats. MacMurray went through three pitchers in the inning during the heaviest rainfall of the game. Fontbonne led 16-0 after four innings and 16-1 after five. Cale Laughlin struck out six Highlanders in his five innings before Tyler Scott got into trouble on the mound. Scott allowed four earned runs in a third of an innings' work while Keaton Wall gave up three runs in the seventh. After trying to end game two early, Fontbonne found themselves only leading by nine (17-8) in the bottom of the seventh with two outs. Miguel Villegas gave the Griffins hope with a single to center field. Fans thought the game was headed into the eighth inning as Steven Belovich hit a fly ball to center field. With the ground wet from the middle-inning rain, the MacMurray centerfielder came in a smidge too far under the ball, which sailed over his head as he slipped to the ground. Belovich's double was enough to send Villegas home from first and end the second game early.

Fontbonne's hot bats totaled 21 hits in game two including five doubles while Zach Carel hit a three-run home run.

Fontbonne is at neighbor Washington University Wednesday for a 3pm matchup, followed by a SLIAC doubleheader on Friday as the Griffins host Spalding University.

*Alex Hill and Ethan Borrowman both turned line drives into outs on diving catches. Shuff caught two runners trying to steal and went 5-for-5 on the day with a sacrifice fly, three RBI's, two runs scored and a home run.