AUBURNDALE, Fla. - The Saint Michael's College baseball team beat Huntington (Ind.) University, 9-5, on Wednesday during the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational at the Lake Myrtle Sports Park. The Purple Knights improve to 2-6, while the Foresters drop to 1-5.

Senior George Buteau (Burlington, Vt./Trinity-Pawling School) provided Saint Michael's with two doubles, two runs scored and three RBIs during his 3-for-5 day. Sophomores Steven Auger (Hopkinton, N.H./Hopkinton) and Drew Salk (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) both went 2-for-4, with Auger chipping in a pair of doubles and two runs scored. Senior Nicky Elderton (Shelburne, Vt./Rice Memorial) belted a two-run home run while scoring twice. Seniors Michael Dougherty (Albany, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/Schenectady CC) and Don McGuirl (Warwick, R.I./Saint Sebastian's School) and first-year Peter Bocchino (Saugus, Mass./The Governor's Academy) each had a double, and first-year PJ Jasak (Palmer, Mass./Wilbraham & Monson Academy) notched his first college hit.

Junior John Mielke (Boxboro, Mass./Acton-Boxboro Regional) earned the win in relief by allowing just one run on five hits with two strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Classmate Rich Reo (Cranston, R.I./Cranston West/CCRI) took the no-decision after allowing three earned runs in 3.2 frames in his first appearance for the squad in two years, and sophomore Peter Cross (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) tossed a shutout ninth inning.

Huntington had four players with multi-hit efforts, including sophomore Michael Crowley (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton), who scored two runs while depositing a two-run homer. Sophomore Andy Roser (Roann, Ind./Northfield) also hit a home run. Sophomore TJ Lindstrand (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) drew three walks and stole one base, while classmate Tanner Wyse (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) took the loss after allowing seven runs in 3.2 innings.

The Purple Knights scored three runs on three hits in the top of the first inning. After a Dougherty leadoff walk and a McGuirl double, Buteau's groundout allowed Dougherty to score. Bocchino then came up two batters later and laced an RBI double before coming around to score on an error. In the home half of the first, sophomore Nate Stark (Edgerton, Ohio/Edgerton) hit a one-out triple and later scored on a Purple Knight infield error. With another run in the second inning thanks to two-out RBI single by Buteau, Saint Michael's enjoyed a 4-1 lead through two innings.

Both teams then played a scoreless third frame before the Purple and Gold continued its productive two-out hitting by pushing across three two-out runs in the fourth after Buteau clubbed an RBI double and Elderton blasted a two-run homer for his second round-tripper in as many games. Huntington clawed back with a trio of runs of its own thanks to Crowley's two-run home run before sophomore Kyle Henricks (Lyons, Ohio/Evergreen) touched home after a pair of wild pitches as Huntington trailed 7-4 after four innings.

Neither team scored over the next three innings as Saint Michael's was able to keep Huntington off the board despite the Foresters having a runner at third base with one out in the fifth and sixth innings. After a Purple Knight runner was stranded at second in the top of the eighth, Roser delivered a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to bring Huntington to a 7-5 deficit. Two more Saint Michael's runs came home after a Salk bases loaded walk and junior Matt Feeney's (Portsmouth, N.H./Portsmouth) pinch-hit sacrifice fly. Trailing 9-5, the Foresters used three singles to load the bases with two outs, but Cross retired the final batter on a fly ball.

Saint Michael's plays a single nine-inning contest tomorrow at 9:10 a.m. against Lesley University in Auburndale, Fla.