GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Spring Arbor University baseball team earned an impressive series victory over No. 15 Arizona Christian University over the weekend, taking two of three games, including a doubleheader sweep on Saturday.
After narrowly dropping Friday night's opener 2-1, the Cougars responded with a 3-2 win in game one of Saturday's twinbill and capped the weekend with a thrilling 8-7 come-from-behind victory in the finale.
On Friday, Arizona Christian struck early with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, but SAU starter
Colin Snyder settled in from there. The right-hander tossed seven straight shutout innings, finishing with a career-high 13 strikeouts while allowing just two runs on four hits against one of the nation's top-ranked teams.
Offensively, the Cougars were limited to just one hit – a solo home run by
Conner Barkel in the seventh inning – as they came up just short in the series opener.
Spring Arbor wasted no time bouncing back, however, plating runs in the first and second innings to take an early 2-0 lead in the opener on Saturday. The Firestorm trimmed the deficit with a run in the third, but
Joey Tessmer provided a key insurance run with a solo blast in the fifth.
Arizona Christian added a run in the seventh to make things interesting, but the Cougars held firm to secure the 3-2 victory. Tessmer finished 2-for-4 with the home run while
Evan Miller also drove in a run.
On the mound,
Josh Murphy earned the win, tossing five strong innings and allowing just one unearned run on two hits with three strikeouts.
Kyle Kantola and
Lucas Dawson combined for four innings out of the bullpen, surrendering just one hit and one unearned run to close it out.
In the series finale, Spring Arbor showed resilience. Trailing 6-3 after four innings, the Cougars chipped away with two runs in the fifth, including an RBI single from Barkel. ACU answered to take a 7-5 lead into the seventh.
SAU tied the game in the seventh when Tessmer doubled down the line to score
Connor Reed and later crossed the plate on an RBI groundout by
Braydon Gregory.
The decisive moment came in the ninth. With two outs,
Aiden Brunin laced a triple and eventually scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Dawson then retired the Firestorm in order in the bottom half to secure the win and the series.
Despite being limited to six hits, three went for extra bases, including a home run by Gregory.
Spring Arbor (4-4) returns home to open Crossroads League play with a four-game series against Goshen College (1-8) on Feb. 27-28.
