Fort Wayne, Ind. --The University of Saint Francis (Ind). Cougars baseball team squared off against the Goshen College Maple Leafs for a Crossroads League battle. The Cougars were successful on Senior day and came away with two wins. 

Perry Stow gave a great start on the mound only allowing 1 run through five innings of work while punching out 6. He gave the offense a chance to go do damage early in the game. USF scored two in the second from a wild pitch and Brenden Lytle sacrifice fly. In the third, Sam Pesa had an rbi single followed by a Nick Parsons 2-run homerun to make this a 5-0 game. The Leafs were able to scratch 1 across in the fourth, but the Cougs responded in the fifth. Ayden Lichtensteiger, Jayden Lepper, and Brenden Lytle all had rbi singles to make it a 9-1 game. Casey Henry came in for 3 innings only allowing 1 while striking out 8. Goshen scored one in the seventh, but an Ayden Lichtensteiger bases loaded hit by pitch kept it an eight run game at 10-2. Bryce Adams came in for the final inning to shut the door and struck out two in the process. Cougs on top 10-2.

The second game of the day was a close battle between these two squads. Xavier Croxton got USF on the board early with a solo homerun in the first. Goshen responded with two runs of their own to make it 2-1 in the second. The Cougs tied it up from a wild pitch. They then scored three in the third from a Nick Parsons double and Ayden Lichtensteiger 2-run homerun. But the Maple Leafs wouldn't lay down and they tied this one back up at 5-5 in the fourth. Cameron Niedens was great out of the bullpen to hold down the Goshen attack, going 2.1 innings with 3 strikeouts and not allowing them to score. USF took the lead in the bottom of the sixth on a defensive miscue and that brought in Graham Kelham for another save opportunity in the top of the seventh. He collected his 8th save on the mound and remains top 10 in the country in this category. He struck out 2 of the 3 batters he faced and helped the Cougs win this one 6-5.

There were many key players on the day for the Cougars. Xavier Croxton was 3 for 9 with a homerun and a triple on the day. Sam Pesa went 4-6 with two walks, and Nick Parsons had a homerun and a double with 3 rbis across both games. Ayden Lichtensteiger was 3-6 with a homerun of his own as well. Graham Kelham, Cameron Niedens, Casey Henry, Bryce Adams, and Perry Stow all did well on the mound to allow the offense to go compete. 

The University of Saint Francis would like to recognize and thank all of the Senior student athletes for all they have done for the school and baseball program. Xavier Croxton, Hunter Frost, Kolton Cardenas, Nick Parsons, Cory Wolter, Jose Valdes-Sandoval, and Casey Henry.  

The Cougars are now 23-14 and 13-11 in conference play. They will wrap up their final home series against the Goshen College Maple Leafs on Sunday. Come out and support the first pitch will be Sunday 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 -