MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.- The first game of a three-game series against the Fire took place on Friday night at Paul Demie Mainieri Field as the Bobcats took game one, despite two home-runs from #3 Southeastern (36-4, 15-2 TSC).

St. Thomas (29-13, 12-7 TSC) got off to a slow start, but ultimately took sole ownership of this game bringing nine runs, to put a final score of 9-3 in the books. 

The Fire jumped on the board first, after a homer in the top of the fourth, but the Bobcats had a quick response. Randy Oliva doubled in a run in the bottom half of the inning, followed by a two-RBI hit from David Palenzuela.

St. Thomas would come back the very next inning and put some runs on the board. The Bobcats had four consecutive hits in the inning, consisting of a James Spatafora single, a Daniel Lowry single, a Nick Canino double (RBI, Spatafora scored) and an Orlando Rivera single (two RBI, Canino and Lowry scored). The fourth and final run in that inning came from an Oliva single, scoring Rivera.

STU would then add to its lead by scoring one sole run in the sixth, which came from a powerful hit off the bat of Michael Centeno, a double to dead center, which brought in Lowry for his second run of the night. A sacrifice fly from Spatafora late in the seventh brought in the (final run) for St. Thomas, which scored pinch runner Michael Sanchez.

Lefty Kenny Roder finished off his night with a quality start, going six innings, allowing only three runs, tallying three K's. He now owns 60 K's on the season for the Bobcats. Anthony Justinano came in and pitched the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings for a three-inning shutout, to earn the save. 

Some notable numbers for St. Thomas on the night came from both Oliva (one double) and Palenzuela, both went 2-for-4 and both raked in two RBI. Kendrick Gutierrez also went 2-for-4, as he picked up a stolen base on one of his two appearances on the bags. Rivera closed out his night going 1-for-4, had two runs, two stolen bags, and two RBI. 

Next up for St. Thomas is game two and three of the weekend series against Southeastern on Saturday, April 8 at 12 and 3 p.m. at Paul Demie Mainieri Field. 

Come out and support as the Bobcats look to take down #3 ranked SEU!