The St. Lawrence baseball team opened its 2016 season with a doubleheader at St. Joseph's Long Island on Saturday afternoon, dropping a pair of close contests to the Golden Eagles 8-5, 4-3, respectively.

Junior Devin Robson led the Saints on the day with three hits, including a home run, with four RBI.  Sam Downes got the start in game one, going five innings with five strikeouts and allowing just one run on three hits, but took the loss. In game two, starter Dan Hedden pitched four innings with three strikeouts and three runs on three hits, but reliever
Liam Rogers was the pitcher of record in the Golden Eagles' walk-off win in the seventh.

Robson's homer in game one gave the Saints a 1-0 lead in the second inning, and he reached on a bases-clearing error in the fifth to bring in Adam Reichel, Mic Regan and Isaac Lewis to extend the lead to 4-0.

But St. Joseph's plated one in the bottom half of the inning and four more in the sixth to take a 5-4 lead. Three more in the bottom of the eighth put it just out of reach for St. Lawrence.

The Saints had an opportunity in the top of the ninth with the bases loaded and no outs, but after Michael LeFevre drove in Taylor Digilio with a single to left, Robson grounded into a game-ending six-four-three double play.

In the second game the Saints found themselves in a 3-0 hole through four innings, but chipped away with a run in the sixth on an Erik Larsen single that plated Reichel and tied the game at 3-3 with a pair in the top half of the seventh thanks to an Evan O'Keeffe RBI double and a balk on the Golden Eagles' pitcher that brought Tom Sullivan in to score.

But Anthony Bonilla singled up the middle in the bottom half of the frame to drive in Tyler Costa as the game-winning run.

The Saints will next play at the Gene Cusick Tournament in Fort Myers, Fla. as part of their spring training trip.