A cold weekend delayed the finish of the series, but on Monday afternoon, the Spring Arbor baseball team took on Goshen to finish their first Crossroads League set of the season. Game one began as a pitcher's duel, with neither team scoring a run, until Spring Arbor broke through in the 6^th inning, eventually winning the game 5-0 behind a fantastic start from John Hojnowski. In game two, the Spring Arbor offense came to life, scoring in every inning, and claiming a 25-8 victory to complete the series win. 

SCORES: 
Spring Arbor 5, Goshen 0
Spring Arbor 25, Goshen 8
LOCATION: 
Hank Burbridge Field
RECORDS: 
Spring Arbor 9-5, 3-1, Goshen 2-8, 1-3



GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS
The contest was a pitcher's duel early, with the two teams combining for 0 runs and 2 hits through the first 5 complete frames. John Hojnowski was the Cougar starter and was electric, allowing a hit to the first hitter of the game, and then holding the Maple Leafs hitless for the rest of his 8 inning outing. 

Spring Arbor finally broke through offensively in the top of the sixth, loading the bases on walks from Jake Spedoske and Aiden Brunin, along with a single by Joey Tessmer leading to Landon Raczkowski breaking the seal with a sacrifice fly to deep center. The catch caused the center fielder to crash into the wall, allowing both Spedoske and Tessmer to score, giving Raczkowski the rare 2-RBI sac fly,  and the Cougars a 2-0 lead. 

After a scoreless 7^th inning, Spring Arbor would add some insurance runs in the 8^th. Brunin started things off with a triple to right, and would score on a passed ball. Raczkowski followed that up with a walk, Ryan Gonzalez singled to right, and Connor Dee walked to load the bases, leading to a Jake Zeeb sac fly to extend the lead to 4-0. Gonzalez would score the 5^th and final run of the contest on the next play via a botched double play throw by Goshen. 

Goshen had one final chance in the bottom of the ninth, but put up no threat, as Braylon Essian went 1-2-3 to finish out the Cougar victory, 5-0. 

Top Performers: 
John Hojnowski: Win, 8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K's
Braylon Essian: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's
Aiden Brunin: 2 for 4, 3B, R, BB
Landon Raczkowski: 0 for 3, R, 2 RBI, BB
Cade Heckendorn: 1 for 2, 2 BB
Ryan Gonzalez: 1 for 4, R
Joey Tessmer: 1 for 5, R
Jake Spedoske: 0 for 2, R, 2 BB

GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS
For as much as Game 1 was a pitcher's duel, game 2 was an absolute slugfest, and it began right away in the first inning. Joey Tessmer led off the game with a single and immediately stole second, leading to Aiden Brunin driving him in with a single to left. Ryan Gonzalez then reached on an error, advancing to second, and moving Brunin to third, where he would score on a Connor Dee sac fly to center. Goshen would get one back in the bottom of the frame after an error, walk, wild pitch, and RBI single, but a successful relay from the Cougars cut down a runner at the plate and shut down the Goshen rally. 

Spring Arbor would score three more runs in the next two innings, courtesy of a Tessmer 2-RBI single in the second, and a Braydon Gregory pinch hit sacrifice fly in the third to give the Cougars a 5-1 lead. Goshen would respond once again however in the bottom of the third with a 3-run home run to trim their deficit to one, 5-4. The Cougars would get one back in the top of the fourth with a home run of their own from Joey Tessmer, extending their lead to 6-4. 

After a scoreless bottom of the fourth for Goshen, Spring Arbor would continue to add offensively, scoring on a Conner Barkel sac bunt and errant throw, and another Tessmer RBI single to move the score to 8-4 in favor of the Cougars. After another scoreless frame for the Maple Leafs, Spring Arbor would go nuclear in the top of the 6^th, scoring 9 runs in the inning, and taking complete control of the game, 17-4. The Cougars scored in the frame via an RBI hit by pitch from Cade Heckendorn, a 2-RBI single from Barkel, a Brunin RBI walk, a Landon Raczkowski grand slam, and Gonzalez scoring on a wild pitch. 

The Cougar offensive onslaught woke up the Maple Leaf offense a bit, as they would score 4 runs of their own in the bottom of the 6^th, via a 2-RBI single, a sac fly, and another RBI single. Blake Worst came in out of the pen in the frame and struck out two of the three batters he faced to halt the Goshen rally. 

In the top of the 7^th, the Spring Arbor offense found some more in the tank, scoring 8 more runs to reach the 25-run mark, their most runs in a game since 2022, where they dominated Rochester 34-8. The Cougar runs came courtesy of an Eli DeVisser single and error which scored Barkel, a wild pitch which scored DeVisser, a Raczkowski RBI double, another wild pitch which scored Brunin, a Seth Clothier 2-RBI double, a Jaeden Rodriguez RBI single, and a Brunin RBI walk. Worst finished out the bottom of the 7^th unscathed, securing the doubleheader sweep and series win for the Cougars, 25-8. 

Top Performers:
Trammell Lindstrom: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K's. 
Blake Worst: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K's
Joey Tessmer: 4 for 4, HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, SB, HBP
Landon Raczkowski: 2 for 7, HR, 2B, 2 R, 5 RBI
Aiden Brunin: 2 for 4, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, HBP, SB
Conner Barkel: 2 for 2, 2B, 4 R, 2 RBI, 2 HBP
Ryan Gonzalez: 2 for 3, 2B, 3 R, 2 BB
Cade Heckendorn: 1 for 1, 2B, RBI, BB, 2 HBP
Jake Spedoske: 1 for 4, 2B, 2 R
Seth Clothier: 1 for 2, 2B, R, 2 RBI
Jaeden Rodriguez: 1 for 1, RBI
Eli DeVisser: 1 for 1, R (First Career Hit)
Caleb Renfer: 1 for 2, R (First Career Hit)

UP NEXT
Spring Arbor will take on Lourdes in a continuation of their non-conference set tomorrow, Tuesday, March 4^th in a single 9-inning contest. First pitch is set for 12:00 PM.