Saints Swipe Season-High Five Bases, But Fall 7-4 to Stripers

Sports stats

IL St. Paul Saints

Saints Swipe Season-High Five Bases, But Fall 7-4 to Stripers

July 3, 2025 - International League (IL)
St. Paul Saints News Release


LAWRENCEVILLE, GA - The St. Paul Saints came into Thursday night 19th out of 20 International League teams in stolen bases. They were also playing in a ballpark where runs are hard to come by and decided using their legs would be beneficial. They swiped a season-high five bases, tied for the second most in franchise history, but it wasn't enough in a 7-4 loss to the Gwinnett Stripers on Thursday night at Coolray Field.

Walks hurt the Saints in the first inning. With one out, Cory Lewis walked three straight hitters to load the bases. Conner Capel looped an RBI single into center giving the Stripers a 1-0 lead. Eddys Leonard followed with a sacrifice fly making it 2-0.

The Saints offense responded in the second scoring two runs with two outs. Anthony Prato led off the inning with a single to center and then stole second. With two outs Will Holland singled to left knocking home Prato cutting the deficit to 2-1. Holland stole second and then moved to third on an infield single to third by Noah Cardenas. Payton Eeles' RBI double down the third base line tied the game at two. Eeles finished the night 3-5 with a double and an RBI.

Aaron Sabato gave the Saints the lead in the third. Carson McCusker reached on a leadoff walk and with two outs Sabato crushed a 425-foot opposite field home run to right-center, his third of the season, giving the Saints a 4-2 lead.

The bottom of the order produced a run for the Stripers in the fourth. Leonard led off the inning with a double to left. A passed ball moved Leonard to third. Matthew Batten followed with a walk putting runners at the corners. With one out Cody Millgan's sacrifice fly cut the Saints lead to 4-3.

Conner Capel, who hit the two-run home run on Wednesday night that proved to be the game winner, came through with the same on Thursday. Rodriguez led off the fifth with a double to left-center and with one out Capel golfed a two-run homer to right, his sixth of the season, giving the Stripers a 5-4 lead.

The Stripers hit their second homer of the night as Rodriguez led off the seventh with a solo homer to right, his third of the season, increasing the lead to 6-4.

Speed scored an insurance run for the Stripers in the eighth. After Milligan reached on a fielder's choice, he stole second. Then he stole third and scored on the throwing error by the catcher Cardenas giving the Stripers a 7-4 lead.

The same two teams meet in game four of a six-game series on Friday night at Coolray Field at 6:05 p.m. (CT). The Saints send RHP Marco Raya (0-4, 7.15) to the mound and the Stripers are TBA. The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

Check out the St. Paul Saints Statistics



International League Stories from July 3, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central