FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Ben Longacre finished a home run short of the cycle and Clinton Stroble also added three hits Monday as the Goshen College baseball team dropped its Crossroads League series finale 12-5 at the University of Saint Francis in a game postponed from Saturday.

Longacre drove in a pair of runs and Brad Stoltzfus scored twice for the Maple Leafs (10-14, 2-4), who scored one run in each of the first four innings before adding another tally in the sixth. Stoltzfus led GC with two walks while Ryan Hartig and Colby Malson chipped in one each to go along with two hits.

Goshen opened the game with three straight hits, getting a Stoltzfus three-bagger down the right-field line before Longacre doubled and Stroble singled to leave runners on the corners and nobody out. Hartig made contact and sent the ball into the outfield, but the ensuing line drive was insufficient to advance the runners as GC left the sacks packed in the opening frame.

Noah Freimuth put Saint Francis (7-16, 4-2) in front with a two-run homer to left with one out in the bottom of the inning. The dinger was the first allowed by Goshen pitching this season after 23 games and more than 165 innings.

Longacre and Cody McCoy drove in runs to bring the visitors back in front. Longacre knocked in an unearned tally with a second-inning triple after Kody McGuire reached on an error, while McCoy's fielder's choice brought in Hartig after a leadoff double in the third for a 3-2 edge.

The Maple Leafs extended their lead in the fourth inning, turning a one-out Stoltzfus walk into proverbial gold with the help of a throwing error and Stroble stroking a single to left.

Saint Francis would score the next five runs, using a pair of two-out hits to get one back in the bottom of the inning before coming a triple shy of the cycle in a four-run fifth that saw the first of five Goshen pitching changes. Keaton Sullivan's three-run homer in the fifth proved the game-winning RBI.

Goshen responded with five straight singles in the top of the sixth, scoring a single run to pull back within 7-5. While Malson's single, the fourth in the line, scored Longacre, the inning showed off a pair of single-game season superlatives for the Maple Leafs: GC amassed 13 hits, one shy of a season-high, but left 14 runners on base.

The Cougars tacked on three more runs in the sixth inning before Longacre and Stoltzfus combined on an inning-ending twin killing: after both teams left men on in the seventh, a second Freimuth homer set the final margin with no outs in the eighth.

Kyle Zabarsky took the win in relief for Saint Francis, working the last five innings and allowing six hits but only one run. Outside of the sixth-inning procession, Goshen went 1-for-15 with a walk and a hit batter against the right-hander.

Five Cougars had multi-hit games, paced by Freimuth's 4-for-5 performance with four runs and four RBI. Sullivan also drove in four while going 2 for 5 while Tyler Prince and Tanner Gaff added three hits each.

While Goshen is still slated for six conference games this week, the weather forecast added more space between them: the Maple Leafs's scheduled doubleheader at Mount Vernon Nazarene will now be played on Wednesday rather than Tuesday. First pitch is still slated for 1 p.m. before Goshen comes home to face Grace in a three-game set this weekend.