AUBURNDALE, Florida (Mar. 6)- The Saint Vincent baseball team fell to Trine by a 3-1 margin in their third game on their spring break trip to Florida. The loss is the first of the season for SVC, dropping them to 2-1 overall.
 
Casey Jones got the start on the mound for SVC, leading another superb pitching performance for the Bearcats. Jones pitched seven innings, giving up just one run on seven hits, while striking out three and walking two batters.
 
Tyler Wood picked up the loss in relief, pitching one inning in relief, giving up one earned run. Alex Polito also pitched in relief for the Bearcats, throwing one inning, giving up one run, while striking out one and walking one.
 
Offensively, Billy Perroz had two hits and the lone RBI of the game for Saint Vincent. Connor Bannias was on base all four times, going 1-1 with three walks and a single. Dylan Schmude recorded one hit and scored one run and Kyle Belmont went 1-1 in his pinch-hitting appearance. Zack VonStein also recorded a hit for the Bearcats in the loss as well.
 
After a scoreless first inning, Trine got on the board first. The Thunder put a couple of runners on base and took a 1-0 lead on sacrifice fly. After a walk by Jones loaded the bases, he escaped the threat striking out the next batter to limit Trine to just the one run in the inning.
 
After a scoreless bottom half of the second and top of the third, the Bearcats got on the board in the bottom half of the third inning. Schmude led off the inning, reaching base on a throwing error and advanced to third in the next at bat on an errant pick-off attempt by the Thunder.
 
After a strikeout, Perroz hit a dribbler to the right side of the pitchers mound, beating out the throw at first base, allowing Schmude to score, tying the game up at 1-1 and it would remain 1-1 for the majority of the game.
 
It was a fast-moving game over the next three four innings as neither team posed any threats to score in the fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh innings. In the top half of the eighth inning, Wood came in relief for the Bearcats.
 
Trine got a couple of runners on in the inning with one out and Wood produced a ground ball that forced the runner out at second, but on the throw to first it got away, allowing the Thunder to take a 2-1 advantage heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.
 
In the bottom of the eighth Belmont led off the inning with a pinch hit single but Saint Vincent was unable to bring him around as the game went to the ninth inning with a 2-1 lead.
 
Trine scored an insurance run and set Saint Vincent down in the ninth inning, handing Saint Vincent their first loss of the 2023 season. The Bearcats scored one run on six hits, while recording five errors in the loss.
 
Saint Vincent returns to action tomorrow, Tuesday, March 7, with a matchup against Gwynedd Mercy. First pitch is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. against the Griffins at Northeast Regional Park in Davenport, Florida.