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The Saint Vincent baseball team fell behind 9-0 after two innings, but fought back and had a chance to win in the 9th before falling, 10-9, to the Houghton College Highlanders.

The Highlanders, a third-year baseball program, jumped to an early 9-0 lead, taking advantage of 6 Bearcats wild pitches, stealing 5 bases and tallying 8 hits in the opening three innings.

SVC began to claw back into the game, scoring twice in the top of the fourth.  With one out, Jordan Britcher walked, then moved to third on a double by Tanner Master.  Chris Winkler singled home Britcher, while Master later scored on a groundout by Matt Loftis.

The Bearcats got two more runs back in the fifth, when AJ Kavinsky singled to lead off, then moved to second on a groundout by Vince Murphy.  Jon White then singled home Kavinsky, alertly taking second on the throw home.  Greg Martin singled home Murphy to make the score 9-4.  The rally ended, however, when Martin attempted to score on a single by Britcher but was thrown out at the plate.

After Houghton added a tenth run in the bottom of the fifth, Winkler reached on an error to lead off the SVC 6th.  Pinch-hitter Ben Webb doubled, then Geo Muzika singled home Winkler.  Webb later scored on a groundout by Murphy to make the score 10-6.

Steve Janik, who came on in relief the fourth inning, then kept the Highlanders off the board the rest of the way, getting some help from Chris Storm, who got the final two outs of the eighth inning.

With one out in the 9th, Master reached on an error, and with two outs, Webb drew a walk.  Pinch-hitter Hunter Williams was down to his final strike, but was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Kavinsky then delivered a two-run single to right to make the score 10-8.  With Murphy at the plate, Kavinsky broke for second on an attempted steal, and Williams then broke for the plate on a delayed steal.  Both runners were safe, which gave the Bearcats a runner at 2nd in a 10-9 contest.  Murphy walked, which forced a pitching change for the Highlanders.  However, the Bearcat threat was ended on a controversial called third strike that wrapped up the game.

Britcher and Murphy led the offense with three hits each on the day, while Janik worked 4 1/3 relief innings, giving up just one run.

Saint Vincent ends the Spring Break trip to Florida with a record of 2-4.  The team returns to action on Friday at 12Noon in Newport News, VA, starting a three-day, four-game road swing.