MOUNT VERNON, OH – After a road day off for the Spring Arbor baseball team on Friday, they returned to action on Saturday afternoon to finish their four-game conference series with Mount Vernon Nazarene. In game one, SAU went down early, but tied it up in the seventh, leading to lots of back and forth until Mount Vernon got the win in the bottom of the tenth on a walk-off home run, 6-5. In game two, Spring Arbor took an early lead themselves with a four-run second inning. Mount Vernon would chip away throughout the contest and eventually tie it in the bottom of the sixth. Neither team would score in the bottom of the seventh, before the Cougars took the lead in the extra eighth frame and would not relinquish it, taking game two, 6-4.
SCORES:
Spring Arbor 5, Mount Vernon Nazarene 6
Spring Arbor 6, Mount Vernon Nazarene 4
LOCATION:
Cougar Baseball Field | Mount Vernon, Ohio
RECORDS:
Spring Arbor 17-15, 9-11 Mount Vernon Nazarene 23-11, 11-9
GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS:
Both teams would go scoreless in the first inning before Mount Vernon drew first blood in the bottom of the second on an RBI single to go up 1-0. SAU would continue to go scoreless, and Mount Vernon would add another run in the bottom of the fourth on another RBI single to extend their lead to 2-0.
Spring Arbor starter Kyler Hinken would start to find a groove, holding MVNU scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings, but the offense would continue to be held scoreless. However, in the top of the seventh, they finally broke through, as Landon Raczkowski hit his third home run of the year, a two-run blast, to tie it, 2-2. Mount Vernon would respond right back however in the bottom of the frame, on another RBI single to retake the lead, 3-2. SAU was unable to muster anything in the top of the eighth and Mount Vernon would add another on an RBI single in the bottom half to extend their lead to 4-2.
Down to their last chance, the Spring Arbor offense would respond, as Connor Dee led off the inning with a home run to left, Eli DeVisser doubled to left to tie the game, and Joey Tessmer gave Spring Arbor their first lead of the contest, 5-4. In the bottom half, Spring Arbor had a chance to claim the victory, but an errant throw by Dee allowed the tying run for Mount Vernon to score and sent the game into extras tied 5-5. Spring Arbor could not score in the top of the tenth, and Mount Vernon capitalized, hitting a walk-off home run to left to win the game, 6-5.
GAME ONE PERFORMERS
Pitching:
Kyler Hinken: 7.2 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Ryan Ruhlman: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 K
Colin Snyder: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Hitting:
Landon Raczkowski: 2 for 4, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB
Connor Dee: 2 for 5, HR, R, RBI
Eli DeVisser: 2 for 4, 2B, RBI
Aiden Brunin: 2 for 4, 2B, BB
Joey Tessmer: 1 for 4, RBI, SAC Fly
Jake Zeeb: 1 for 4, BB
Zach Adams: 1 for 4, BB
Ryan Gonzalez: 1 for 5, 2B
GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS:
Game two began with Spring Arbor loading the bases with nobody out but were unable to score them. Starter Trammell Lindstrom threw a clean bottom half of the frame, and SAU was finally able to capitalize in the top of the second, once again loading the bases with nobody out, and finally bringing some across, as Aiden Brunin blooped a single to right to bring home the first run. Ryan Gonzalez would follow that up with a two-run single to right, and Dee would bookend the scoring in the inning with a sacrifice fly to left to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead.
In the bottom half of the second, Mount Vernon would get a run back on a RBI triple to right, and added another in the bottom of the third on an RBI double to pull within two runs, 4-2. From there, both offenses would be held in check in both the fourth and fifth innings, before Mount Vernon found life again in the sixth, tying the game, 4-4, on a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch.
In the seventh, both teams could not rally, which led to the second extra inning contest of the day. In the top of that extra frame, Spring Arbor would rally, as Raczkowski led off with a walk, Zach Adams bunted him over to second, and Brenden Phillips came in clutch, singling to right to score Raczkowski and retake the lead, 5-4. One batter later, Eli DeVisser would single to score Phillips who advanced to second on the throw home, and give Spring Arbor a 6-4 lead heading into the bottom half. In that bottom half, Jack Will came out of the pen, and shut the door, striking out the first two hitters, and sealing the 6-4 win on a line out to center field.
GAME TWO PERFORMERS:
Pitching:
Trammell Lindstrom: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
Colin Snyder: Win, 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Jack Will: Save, 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K's
Hitting:
Aiden Brunin: 2 for 5, R, RBI
Eli DeVisser: 2 for 3, R, RBI, HBP
Brenden Phillips: 1 for 3, 2 R, RBI, HBP
Ryan Gonzalez: 1 for 4, 2 RBI
Landon Raczkowski: 1 for 2, R, 2 BB
Connor Dee: 0 for 3, RBI, SAC Fly
UP NEXT
Spring Arbor will return home for more Crossroads League action as they will take on Bethel in a four game series starting on Friday, April 4th. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 PM.
