Fort Wayne, Ind. --The University of Saint Francis (Ind). Cougars baseball team took on the Wildcats of Indiana Wesleyan University on Friday to kick off a conference series. They were gritty and grinding all day long to came away with two wins.

Game 1 was back and forth all game. The Wildcats jumped on USF early putting up 1 in the top of the first. But the Cougs responded with a solo homerun from Xavier Croxton and a 3-run homerun from Nick Parsons to go up 4-1. After getting a run on a passed ball, Sam Pesa had a 2 RBI single to extend the lead to 7-1 after the second. IWU got one back in third, and four more in the fourth to make it a 7-6 ball game. After some team offense, USF manufactured another. After a sac-fly in the fifth and two homeruns in the sixth, the Wildcats took the lead 9-8. The Cougs didn't lay down and responded in the bottom half with another 2 RBI single from Sam Pesa, Kolton Cardenas RBI single, and Brenden Lytle RBI hit by pitch to make it a 12-9 game. Xavier Croxton hit another homerun in the seventh to extend the lead to 13-9. Lukas North was electric out of the bullpen, going 3 innings with 6 strikeouts and no hits or walks. He closed this one out and USF was in top 13-9.

Game two featured a late rally from USF. IWU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after the first, and the scratched another in the second to make it 3-0. The Cougar offense struggled to capitalize early, but Kolton Cardenas got it going in the fifth with a solo homerun. The Wildcats came back with a 2-run homerun of their own and they made it a 5-1 game. But yet again USF responded by scoring 5 runs with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. This came from a defensive error, a 2 RBI single from Nick Parsons, an RBI double from Kolton Cardenas, and the go ahead RBI single from Brenden Lytle to take the lead. Graham Kelham came in and shut the door to put the Cougs on top 6-5 for the sweep.

There were many key contributors today for USF. Lukas North and Graham Kelham were terrific out of the bullpen for the Cougs and helped to secure wins. Xavier Croxton had 2 homeruns, Nick Parsons had 1, as well as Kolton Cardenas with 1. Sam Pesa went 4-6 with 4 RBIs and a walk on the day. Brenden Lytle hit the go ahead single to help the Cougars pull out the victory. 

The Cougars are now 17-10 and 7-7 in conference play. They will finish up the series against the Wildcats Saturday. The first pitch will be at 1:00 PM est at Cougar Field. 

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 -