AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The regionally-ranked Saint Anselm College baseball team opened its spring break trip with an 8-0 loss to Minnesota-Crookston on Saturday at Lake Myrtle Park.

The Hawks recorded their first loss of the season after posting their best start since the 1992 campaign. Saint Anselm falls to 4-1 on the year while the Golden Eagles improve to 4-4. The Hawks begin the month of March with a doubleheader with Rockhurst on Sunday, Mar. 1, starting at 9:30 a.m.

The Golden Eagles started the scoring early as Eli Jung had a sacrifice fly in the second inning, scoring Brock Reller from third.

Minnesota-Crookston pushed away from the Hawks in the third inning, bringing home five runs which extended the advantage to six. With two runners on base, Reller sent a home run over the right-center field wall to keep the offense going.

Later in the game, Scott Finberg led off the fifth inning with a walk. Jung singled, moving Finberg to second. Finburg advanced to third after junior pitcher Will Conaton (Windham, N.H.) recorded a balk. Later in the inning, Finberg scored off a passed ball, bringing the Saint Anselm deficit to seven late in the contest.

The Golden Eagles clinched the victory with one final run in the bottom of the sixth as Ben Bryant crossed the plate after another passed ball by Saint Anselm.

Conaton struck out two of the first four batters that he faced, but ended up drawing the loss, conceding six earned runs. Freshman Avery Mosseau (Bedford, N.H.) came on in relief, fanning three batters before classmate Frankie Roder (Franklin Square, N.Y.) made his collegiate debut, striking out the side while throwing just 15 pitches in his first inning of work.

The Hawks offense racked up three doubles in the game, but was unable to generate any runs on the day.