Fort Wayne, Ind. --The University of Saint Francis (Ind). Cougars baseball team took on the Marion University Knights to finish up their series on Sunday. They ended the day in a 1-1 split, but took the series 3-1.

The first game was a very tough battle between these two squads. MU got on the board early scoring 7 across the first three innings of the game, taking a very big lead early. But the Cougars responded in the fourth with a Gavin Noble bases loaded hit by pitch, Jayden Lepper 2 rbi single, and Sam Pesa bases loaded walk to make it a 7-4 ballgame. They scored again in the fifth from a solo home run courtesy of Eli Riley. The game remained 7-5 until the bottom of the ninth when USF scratched another run from a balk, but they weren't able to complete the comeback. They dropped this one 7-6.

Looking to win the series, the Cougs came out hot in the final game. Deron Swanson with yet another quality start on the mound going 6 innings with 7 strikeouts and only allowing 2 runs. In the first inning, Sam Pesa hit a ground rule double to bring in one and Ayden Lichtensteiger followed it up with a double of his own to make it a 3-0 game. USF continued to dominate at the plate in this one by bringing 6 more runs across in the bottom of the third. This came from another Eli Riley Solo homerun, Ayden Lichtensteiger double, Nick Parsons two-run homerun, balk, and a wild pitch. Despite Marian scoring two runs in the fifth and sixth innings, Brenden Lytle got them back with a 2 rbi single and later scored on a wild pitch. Casey Henry finished off the seventh with the Cougs on top 12-2. 

There were many key contributors on the day for USF. Eli Riley had a day at the plate with 2 homeruns as well as throwing out a couple runners. Deron Swanson had a great start improving his record to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in conference. Jayden Lepper was 4-9 on the day and Nick Parsons had a homerun to help boost the Cougar offense as well. Brenden Lytle also won a lot of his at bats and had a couple of rbis to go along with that. 

The Cougars are now 23-14 and 13-11 in conference play. They will have their final home series of the year against the Goshen College Maple Leafs. They are currently 12-23 and 7-16 in conference. The second day of this 4-game series will be Senior Day at Cougar Field. Come out and support the first pitch will be Friday at 1:00 PM est.

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 -