MARION, Ind. – Chase Gaff pitched seven solid innings and seven of nine University of Saint Francis position players had at least two hits apiece in the Cougars 9-5 upset win over MCC Baseball Tournament No. 1 seed and ninth-ranked Spring Arbor University (30-6) on Wednesday.

   Now a school-record 27-27, the USF Cougars rallied from a 4-1 deficit after four innings scoring once in the fifth and three in the sixth to grab a 5-4 lead. USF added a run in the seventh for a 6-4 lead, a run in the eighth for a 7-5 lead and two more in the ninth on a two-out Jon Saporsantos single.

   “What a great job by everybody stayin’ up, keepin’ their head in the game and doin’ the job,” USF coach Greg Roberts said. “Only problem is that we’ve only got about 30 minutes to enjoy it. We don’t want to waste this opportunity.”

   USF took the lead for good in the sixth when Travis Potchka bunted the ball toward first and Tristen Peffley, pinch-running for Jarrod Wehri, dashed home and shook the ball loose with his feet-first slide.

   “Just great hustle on Travis and Tristen’s part makin’ plays,” Roberts said. “That play gave us momentum and we never gave it up.”

    Nate Long and Drew Linder knocked in the first two runs in the sixth for USF with singles. Berto Nunez, Jake Trahin and Long scored the runs in the pivotal inning.

   SAU, which finished first in the Mid-Central Conference with a 22-5 record, got one run back in the bottom of the seventh. But Gaff got a grounder to Nunez to cut down the tying runner at the plate, then got a fly to Saporsantos at second to choke off any more damage.

  In the seventh Nunez led off with a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-4 USF. A Nunez fielder’s choice in the eighth scored Peffley in the eighth for a 7-5 USF lead.

   Greg Kerro came on for Gaff in the eighth and after SAU pushed runners to second and third with one out, Kerro got serious and enticed a grounder to third and a grounder to second.

  After yielding a leadoff double in the ninth, Bart Schnur came on for Kerro and got a fly to center, a fly to Nunez at third and a grounder to Nunez at third for the final out.

Box Score

-- Go USF --