SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – The third-seeded Spring Arbor University baseball team earned a 5-3 win over sixth-seeded Indiana Wesleyan University in the first round of the Crossroads League Tournament on Saturday at Hank Burbridge Field.
The win improved SAU to 27-15 on the year. The Cougars advance to take on seventh-seeded Bethel College on Monday, May 4 at 3 p.m. at Huntington University in Huntington, Indiana. Indiana Wesleyan slipped to 24-29 overall and will now face Huntington in an elimination game.
The Wildcats opened the game with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning, but junior pitcher Spencer Goebel settled in and limited one of the conference's best offensive teams to just one run over the final eight frames.
After falling behind early, the Cougars battled back and pushed four runs across in the bottom of the second. Jeremiah Johnson and Tyler Baker hit back-to-back singles to get the inning started before Jonathan Newman and Adam Rojas drove in both runners with consecutive doubles. With runners at second and third, SAU executed a perfect double suicide squeeze to open up a 4-2 advantage.
Indiana Wesleyan pulled within one after plating a run in the fifth, but Spring Arbor answered immediately in the home half of the inning to push the margin back to two, 5-3. After reaching on an error, Francisco Ondina advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Chris Wegrzyn and would score on an errant pickoff attempt.
That was more than enough support for Goebel, who allowed just one hit the rest of the way to secure his fifth win of the season. The right-hander tossed all nine innings scattering seven hits while striking out three.
Newman went 2-for-4 at the plate while Nick Harris collected two RBIs.
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