SPRING ARBOR, MI – The Spring Arbor baseball team concluded their sixteen game homestand, as well as a chaotic stretch of seven games in five days, on Tuesday afternoon with a non-conference nine-inning contest against Rochester Christian. After being held to one run and two hits in the second game against Grace the day prior, the Cougar offense found their groove again, as they scored in every inning but one, and the pitching staff tossed a shutout, resulting in a 12-0 Cougar win.  

 
SCORES:  
Spring Arbor 12, Rochester Christian 0 
 LOCATION:  
Hank Burbridge Field 
RECORDS:  
Spring Arbor 14-10, Rochester 3-13 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS: 

Brady Mitchell got the start for Spring Arbor and worked out of trouble in the first inning, holding Rochester scoreless, and from there, the Cougar offense got to work. Aiden Brunin started things off by reaching on an error by the second baseman, and he would score a few batters later on an RBI groundout by Braydon Gregory. Landon Raczkowski would score the second run of the inning on an errant back pick attempt at third from the Rochester catcher, and the Cougars would exit the first frame up 2-0.  

Mitchell would toss two more scoreless frames in the second and the third, and the Cougar offense would add on, scoring on a safety squeeze from Eli DeVisser in the bottom of the second after a Zach Adams double led off the inning. Adams would then drive in two more on a single to right in the bottom of the third to extend the Cougar lead to 5-0.  

Rochester would be shut down once again in the next two stanzas, as Mitchell concluded his outing in the fifth after working out of trouble. Spring Arbor would add a single run in both the fourth and the fifth, as Brunin drove in DeVisser on a sac fly in the fourth, and Adams brought Braydon Gregory home on a safety squeeze in the fifth to make it 7-0.  

Braylon Essian came on in relief in the top of the sixth and posted another zero, setting the stage for the Cougars best offensive inning of the day. Tessmer got things started with a single and advanced to second on an error. He would then score on a Brunin RBI single, and after a walk from Raczkowski put two runners on, Braydon Gregory destroyed a ball to left for a three-run bomb to put the Cougars in double digits, 11-0.  

After Essian's clean inning, Kyle Kantola was next out of the bullpen for the seventh, and after walking the leadoff hitter, struck out the next two, and induced a fly out to center to the end the frame. Spring Arbor would have their only zero of the day in the bottom of the seventh, and Blake Worst would come on in relief for the eighth. Worst hit the first batter he faced but then rolled a double play ball to erase the mistake and got out of the inning with another fly out to center.  
 

Spring Arbor would get their final run of the contest in the bottom of the eighth on a Brunin RBI double, and Ryan Ruhlman tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the Cougar victory, 12-0.  
 
 
GAME PERFORMANCES

Pitching: 

Brady Mitchell: Win, 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K's 

Braylon Essian: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 K 

Kyle Kantola 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K's 

Blake Worst 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K 

Ryan Ruhlman 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K's 

Hitting: 

Braydon Gregory: 3 for 4, HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, SB 

Zach Adams: 2 for 2, 2B, 3 RBI, SAC Bunt 

Aiden Brunin: 2 for 4 , 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, SB 

Ryan Gonzalez: 1 for 3, R, BB 

Conner Barkel: 1 for 4 

Eli DeVisser: 0 for 3, RBI, R, HBP 

UP NEXT 

Spring Arbor will hit the road for the first time in over a month, as they will travel to Indianapolis, Indiana to take on Marian in a four-game set. The series will start on Friday, March 21st with a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 1:00 PM