AUBURNDALE, Fla. (March 5)- The Saint Vincent baseball team came back from three runs down to defeat North Central (Minn.) 11-7 for the Bearcats third win in a row in Florida.

Saint Vincent (3-1) trailed 7-4 going into the bottom of the fifth. SVC went on to score seven runs, four in the fifth and three in the sixth, to down North Central (0-4) in Davenport. The Bearcats totaled 13 hits as a team, while not committing a single error in the win.

Mario Disso continued his hot hitting at the plate for the Bearcats to start the season. The graduate second baseman added three more hits, going 3-4 with one run scored. Alex Hess had three hits as well, going 3-5 with three RBI's and one run scored. 

At the top of the lineup, Ben Hudson went 2-4 with a run scored and walk, while Dalton Nicklow went 2-4 as well with three runs scored and one walk in the clean up spot. L.J. Evans, Kyle Belmont, and Dylan Schmude all added one hit to the offensive outburst for SVC. Schmude and Evans also knocked in two runs, while Belmont Julian Santana, and Derek Hald all recorded one RBI each.

Christopher Rayman picked up his first career Bearcats on the mound. Rayman pitched 4.1 innings in relief, giving up just one run (zero earned) on two hits, while he also struck out four and walked three batters. Josh Dailey and Andrew Stano both threw scoreless outings in relief in the win, while Alex Polito picked up the two-out save, striking out one batter during his short outing in relief.

It was a rough start for the Bearcats. After the first three batters of the game reached base safely, North Central ripped a grand slam to take a 4-0 lead. Saint Vincent limited the damage and came ready to hit in the bottom of the inning. SVC struck for four runs to tie the game in the bottom of the inning.

Hudson led it off with a double and Disso followed with a single and Saint Vincent was in business. Hald then hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Hudson to cut the lead to 4-1. Evans followed with an RBI-groundout scoring Disso to cut the lead in half at 4-2. The Bearcats weren't done yet, as Belmont and Hess both added RBI singles to tie the game at 4-4 heading into the second inning.

North Central went on to hold SVC scoreless over the next three innings, but scored three runs of their own as they held a 7-4 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth.

It was all Saint Vincent from that point on. The Bearcats struck for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead. First, Santana reached on an RBI fielders choice, Hess followed with another RBI-single, and Schmude followed with a two-RBI single to give Saint Vincent an 8-7 lead.

Rayman continued to deal on the mound, holding North Central scoreless in the next half inning, allowing the Bearcats to add to their lead in the bottom of the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth, Evans ripped an RBI-single to left, scoring Nicklow and later came around to score on an errant throw when stealing third base. The Bearcats lead went to 11-7 after another Hess RBI, this one coming on a double that scored Santana.

From that point on in the game, Rayman, Stano, and Polito shut the door on any threat that North Central posed to give the Bearcats their third straight victory.

North Central scored their seven runs on eight hits, committing three errors in the game.

The Bearcats will continue their Florida trip tomorrow, Thursday, March 6 with a matchup against John Carroll. First pitch is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. at Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale.