SPRING ARBOR, MI – The weekend was tough for the Spring Arbor baseball team, but they had a chance to respond right away on Monday afternoon, as the Grace Lancers came to town to finish their four-game conference set with a doubleheader. Game one was all Cougars, as they scored in the first inning and would never relinquish the lead, shutting out the Lancers in an 8-0 victory. Game two was a pitcher's duel for the first 6 innings, until the Grace offense came alive in the final frame to take the 8-1 victory and avoid the sweep.  

 
SCORES:  
Spring Arbor 8, Grace 0 
Spring Arbor 1, Grace 8 
LOCATION:  
Hank Burbridge Field 
RECORDS:  
Spring Arbor 13-10, 6-6, Grace 7-14, 2-10 

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS: 

After a scoreless first inning for Grace, the Cougar offense got right to work, as Joey Tessmer led off the inning with a double, advanced to third on an Aiden Brunin sac bunt, and scored on a Landon Raczkowski sac fly to give Spring Arbor the early 1-0 lead.  

Both teams would go scoreless in the second before the Cougar offense came to life again in the bottom of the third. Tessmer once again led off the frame with a double, would advance to third on another Brunin bunt, and scored courtesy of Raczkowski once again, as he doubled to left. Ryan Gonzalez would drive in Raczkowski on the next play with a RBI single to right, and Connor Dee would follow that up with an RBI bloop single of his own two batters later. A Zach Adams RBI groundout would conclude the scoring for the inning, as Spring Arbor took full control with a 5-0 lead.  

Cougar starter Trammell Lindstrom continue to deal, going 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth, setting up more scoring for Spring Arbor in the bottom of the inning, as they used a Tessmer single, Brunin RBI triple, and Raczkowski RBI groundout to extend their lead to 7-0. Lindstrom would get into a little trouble in the top of the fifth, but that was erased with a tremendous double play by Joey Tessmer, who made a tremendous running catch in center and doubled off the runner at first.  

The Cougar offense would go quiet for the next two frames, while Trammell LIndstrom put the finishing touches on a tremendous outing in the top of the sixth and gave way to Colin Snyder in the top of the seventh, who also held the Lancers scoreless. Spring Arbor would add one more run in the bottom of the seventh, courtesy of a Jake Zeeb RBI double to left, to go up 8-0, which is what the final would be, as Snyder threw two more clean innings to complete the shutout victory for Spring Arbor.  
 
 
GAME ONE PERFORMERS 

Pitching: 

Trammell Lindstrom: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K's 

Colin Snyder: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K's 

Hitting: 

Joey Tessmer: 3 for 4, 2 2B, 3 R 

Landon Raczkowski: 1 for 3, 2B, R, 3 RBI, SAC Fly 

Aiden Brunin: 1 for 2, 3B, R, RBI, 2 SAC Bunts 

Jake Zeeb: 1 for 2, 2B, R, RBI, BB, HBP 

Ryan Gonzalez: 1 for 3, 2 R, RBI, BB 

Connor Dee: 1 for 4, RBI 

Conner Barkel 1 for 4 

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS: 

After being shutout in game one, the Grace offense got on the board right away in game two, scoring on an RBI single to go up 1-0. The Cougars would go down in order in the bottom of the inning, and after Grace added another run on a solo shot in the second, the Cougar offense would once again go down 1-2-3.  

Cougar starter Kyler Hinken had his first scoreless inning retiring the Lancers in order in the bottom of the third, and Spring Arbor would break up the no-hitter on a Jake Spedoske triple with two outs but were unable to score him. Hinken would toss another scoreless frame in the top of the fourth, but the Cougar offense still could not find any momentum in the bottom half.  

After a scoreless fifth stanza for both squads, each team would add a run in the sixth, as Grace scored on a sac fly to right to go up 3-0, and Spring Arbor would finally push one across in the bottom half, as Tessmer doubled to lead off the inning, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a Raczkowski sac fly to center to trim the Cougar deficit to 3-1.  

Any momentum that Spring Arbor had from the previous half inning quickly dissipated however, as the Grace offense came to life, scoring five runs in the top of the seventh on three separate RBI singles, and an error that brought home two more runs. The Cougars would go down in order in the bottom half, and Grace would secure the victory, 8-1.  

GAME TWO PERFORMERS: 

Pitching: 

Kyler Hinken: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 K's.  

Hitting: 

Joey Tessmer: 1 for 3, 2B, R 

Jake Spedoske:  1 for 2, 3B 

Landon Raczkowski: 0 for 1, RBI, HBP, SAC Fly 

 
UP NEXT 
Spring Arbor will take on Rochester Christian in a single 9-inning non-conference contest on Tuesday, March 18th at Hank Burbridge Field.  First pitch is set for 2:00 PM.