First-year infielder James Cronin hit his first collegiate home run and four Saints had multi-hit games, but the St. Lawrence baseball team dropped its season opener to Augustana, 8-4, at the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Florida on Saturday afternoon.

Taylor Digilio, Brendon Frank, Evan O'Keeffe and Beau Yaremko each had two hits in their season debuts, with Digilio scoring two runs and Frank finishing with a pair of RBI.

On the mound, Rookie left-hander Patrick Greenan went three and one-third innings in his first collegiate start, giving up three runs – two earned – and finishing with two strikeouts. Anthony Ferraro also made his first collegiate appearance in relief, recording three strikeouts of his own. Louis LaCivita and Charlie Pacilio also pitched in the latter innings for St. Lawrence

The Saints took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning on an RBI single by Frank that brought Digilio in to score, but Augustana answered in the bottom half of the frame to tie the game at 1-1.

The Vikings then added two in the fourth inning and another in the sixth to build a 4-1 lead heading into the top of the seventh.

St. Lawrence got one back with another RBI single from Frank, this time playing Yaremko to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Augustana regained a three-run lead with a solo home run by Tyler Nunez in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Cronin responded with a solo shot of his own to left center and helped the Saints chip away once again, pulling within two runs at 5-3.

The Vikings posted three runs on one hit and one error in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach. Isaac Lewis drove in Digilio for the Saints' fourth run with an RBI triple in the top of the ninth, but St. Lawrence couldn't close the gap.

With the loss, the Saints drop to 0-1 on the season, while Augustana improves to 10-3.