JOLIET, Ill. --- University of St. Francis staved off elimination in the 2010 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round by opening up a 4-0 lead after the first two innings and scoring a pair of insurance runs late in a 7-3 victory over Mayville State University (N. Dak.) Wednesday afternoon at Silver Cross Field.

St. Francis senior centerfielder David Heasley (Crystal Lake Central H.S./Spring Grove, IL) and senior third baseman Andy Zurales (Lincoln-Way Central H.S./New Lenox, IL) proved hard to stop with the bat as Heasley drove in runs in three separate innings and Zurales went 4-for-5 with two runs scored and one RBI. Included in Zurales' hit count was one double and a triple.

Heasley drove Zurales in with the second run of the first inning on a double after senior catcher Pat Grady (Carl Sandburg H.S./Orland Park, IL) plated the first run on a sacrifice fly.

The Saints (35-15) then doubled their run total in the second inning scoring on a wild pitch and Zurales' double.

Mayville State (29-22) got one of those runs back in the third inning when it opened the frame with back-to-back singles and scored on an Alex Berry groundout.

Heasley, however, provided his second run-scoring double in the seventh to rebuild the Saints' lead back up to four, 5-1.

The Comets made their biggest noise in the eighth inning when they put the tying run on first base with two outs courtesy of run-scoring singles by catcher Spencer Braun (2-for-3) and third baseman Dan Silva to make it a 5-3 game. That is when St. Francis head coach Gordie Gillespie summoned reliever sophomore Corey Schultz (Kankakee H.S./Kankakee, IL) out of the bullpen to take over for senior starter Joe Koehler (Mount Carmel H.S./Worth, IL).

Koehler (5-4) had yielded just five hits through the first seven innings before tiring in the eighth when he gave up three hits and a walk.

Schultz retired the final batter in the eighth and three straight after a walk to open the ninth to record his fifth save of the season.

Junior designated hitter Brent Walters (Lisle H.S./Lisle, IL) and freshman first baseman Joe Ruge (Riverside-Brookfield H.S./North Riverside, IL) also collected a pair of hits for the Saints with Ruge's second driving in a run in USF's third two-run inning of the game in the ninth.

The win sets up another elimination game for the Saints in a matchup with Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Robert Morris University at 7 p.m. Wednesday night.