Through its first two games at the Gene Cusick Classic in Florida, the St. Lawrence baseball team has a suffered a pair of one-run losses at the hands of Western Connecticut State and the University of Wisconsin-Plateville, respectively. They also fell 5-1 to Saint John's University (MN) on Sunday afternoon.

The Saints, now 0-5 on the season, faced Western Connecticut State in their Florida opener on Saturday afternoon and were edged 4-3 after having a 3-0 lead midway through the game.

In the fourth inning, junior Devin Robson doubled with two outs to drive in classmate Adam Reichel and put the Saints in front 1-0.

The Saints extended their lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth, as a pair of walks and a single by Mic Regan brought Reichel to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. He hit a two RBI single that plate Isaac Lewis and Evan O'Keeffe for the Saints.

But Western Connecticut added three in the bottom half of the inning to tie it and plated the go ahead run in the bottom of the seventh to take a 4-3 lead.

The Saints stranded two in the top of the ninth to end the game. Reliever Evan Reichel was the pitcher of record in the loss to Western Connecticut allowing three hits and recording two strikesouts, while starter Sam Downes pitched four and two-thirds innings, allowed eight hits and three earned runs. Will Fellows pitched one and one third scoreless innings in relief for the Saints.

Against UW-Platteville, St. Lawrence jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Erik Larsen's sac fly to center field brought home Michael LeFevre and first-year Taylor Digilio singled down the right field line to score Devin Robson.

Platteville cut the lead in half in the top of the third inning, but the Saints regained their two-run advantage in the fifth. Digilio led off the inning with a single to center field and Lewis followed with a double down the left field line for the team's third run.

Senior Dan Hedden was stellar through five innings of work in the start, allowing just two hits and one run with six strikeouts. But a five-run sixth for Platteville was the difference, as three hits, three walks and a hit batter helped erase the Saints early advantage and gave UW a 6-3 heading into the late innings. First-year Alex Black gave up the five runs in two-thirds of an inning before junior Liam Rogers took over on the mound for the Saints.

St. Lawrence got a pair back in the bottom half of the frame thanks to a Robson double that drove in LeFevre and an Evan Reichel single to right center that brought Robson around to score, but couldn't entirely close the gap; suffering its third straight one-run loss.

Sunday afternoon's matchup with Saint John's University was a 5-1 decision in favor of the Johnnies, who scored two runs each in the seventh and eighth to snap a 1-1 tie.

The Saints lone run of the game came from Robson, who is leading St. Lawrence with seven RBI so far this season.

Senior Frank Grady was the pitcher of record, throwing six innings and allowing three runs – one earned – on six hits, with four strikeouts.

The Saints have a rematch with the Johnnies at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, March 21 in Fort Myers.