Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 John Carroll left Florida on a sour note, dropping its last two games when the offense dried up.

After laying in wait for seven days, the Blue Streaks got back on the field Saturday morning in Lexington, Kentucky. The Blue Streaks started the day by dropping a 9-7 decision in a neutral field scenario to Calvin College, but bounced back and beat host Transylvania by a 5-3 score to finish the day with a split.

vs. Calvin

There were two comebacks and almost a third in the Calvin game.

Calvin began the day by getting two runs in the second, of which only one was earned. But a Dom Mittiga RBI in the top of the fourth and a David Ferguson home run in the top of the seventh knotted the score at 2-2.

The Knights answered with three runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 5-2 lead, the lst of which was unearned. That ended the day for starter Steve Virost, who went seven innings and allowed five runs (three earned) on five hits, striking out seven and walking none.

Trailing by three in the top of the eighth, JCU rallied again. Aaron Zawadzki and Monroe Donnelly scored on an RBI single by Mittiga, and Mittiga later scored on an passed ball.

Calvin -- which had given up a two-run lead and a three-run lead -- opted to go for a four-run lead to see if that would be enough. The Knights scored four runs on five hits in the bottom of the eighth to go up 9-5.

The Blue Streaks did rally, and did get the tying run on base on the go-ahead run to the plate, but came up short. JCU plated two runs thanks to a two-out two-run single by Monroe Donnelly, but Calvin shut the door on a fly ball to right.

vs. Transylvania

Most of the offense in this game happened in the opening three innings. John Carroll opened up the first frame with RBI hits by Mittiga and Feruson to stake starter John Merrill with a 2-0 lead.

That lead would last until the bottom of the second when the Pioneers plated two runs. Transylvania collected two runs on five hits in the first two innings.

JCU would support its rookie hurler with two runs in the third. Derek Penman took advantage of an error by an outfielder to score on Patrick Keohane's single. Keohane would eventually come home by an RBI hit from Mittiga.

Additional cushion was provided in the fourth when Aaron Zawadzki took a lead off walk and turned it into a run thanks to aggressive base running. He scored JCU's fifth and final run when Michael Anderson brought him home with a sacrifice fly.

Merrill eventually settled in, and did not allow a run in his final four innings of work. He finished the day with seven hits and two runs allowed in six innings, striking out five.

The bullpen did the rest. Cameron Mayle and Aaron Steele limited the Pioneers to one run on two hits in the final three innings. Steele struck out the side in the ninth for his third save.

Mittiga finished the two-game set batting .667 (6-9) with four RBI and two runs scored.

John Carroll is now 8-5 following the conclusion of play today.