STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – The Geneva College baseball team let a pair of games get away on Monday afternoon at Franciscan, seeing the Barons rally late in both games to defeat Geneva by scores of 8-6 and 11-10.  The Golden Tornadoes dropped to 10-12 overall, 1-9 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference.

Geneva got off to a good start in game one, scoring twice in the first inning to give senior starter Caleb Graft some early run support.  Senior Zack Sackett singled home junior Aaron Babu for the first run, and Sackett later came around to score on a wild pitch to account for the second run.

Franciscan pulled even with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, but Geneva immediately responded to retake the lead.  Sophomore Michael Twigg led off with a double, and he scored on a Baron error off the bat of senior Zach Lemansky.  Lemansky stole second and scored on a single from sophomore Bradley McGuire to give the Golden Tornadoes another two-run lead.

Franciscan got one of those runs back with a solo home run in bottom of the fifth, and then the Barons jumped on the Geneva bullpen for two runs in the bottom of the seventh to take their first lead of the game.

The Golden Tornadoes caught a break in the top of the eighth when, with two outs, Twigg's infield pop-up got lost in the sun and dropped to the dirt, allowing Babu and senior Connor O'Brien to score to give Geneva the lead back, 6-5. 

Unfortunately, the bullpen couldn't hold the lead, with Franciscan scoring three times in the bottom of the inning to grab the lead back, and the Golden Tornadoes couldn't answer and lost, 8-6.

Twigg and Sackett led the offense with two hits apiece, while Babu scored two runs.  Graft was solid in his start, pitching six innings while giving up just five hits and three runs.

Sophomore Dylan Rowe got the start in game two, and the Barons jumped ahead in the bottom of the first with a two-run home run to give Franciscan the early edge.

Geneva got on the board in the top of the second on an RBI-double from senior Eric Gonzalez that drove in McGuire.  However, Franciscan got that run back on an error in the bottom the frame and added a fourth run in the bottom the third.

The Golden Tornadoes put together a big inning in the top of the fourth, though, to take their first lead of the game.  Lemansky and McGuire got on base to start the inning, and by the time Franciscan finally recorded the third out, Geneva had scored six times.  Gonzalez contributed an RBI-single to drive home two runs, Gonzalez later scored on a passed ball, Twigg added a sacrifice fly, Sackett drove home a run with a single, and junior Kirk Bearjar wrapped up the inning with an RBI-double.

Geneva tacked on a run in the top of the sixth on another RBI-single from Sackett as Rowe settled down after the early Franciscan runs to pitch six strong innings.

The Golden Tornado offense kept its foot on the gas in the seventh as Babu delivered a two-out, two-run double to increase the Geneva lead to 10-4.

However, Franciscan rallied again against the Golden Tornado bullpen, scoring three times in the seventh and adding two more in the eighth to close within 10-9.

Geneva appeared to be in good position to win the game after retiring the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth, but after a two-out single, back-to-back errors allowed Franciscan to score the tying run, and then a Baron single gave Franciscan the victory, 11-10.

Sackett and O'Brien led the offense with three hits apiece, while Gonzalez added two hits to the attack.  Sackett, Babu and Gonzalez each drove in two runs.

Geneva will try to rebound on Wednesday when the Golden Tornadoes host Bethany for a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m.