After an 8-7, eight-inning loss to open Saturday's (April 29) doubleheader at Lake Erie, Ashland University's baseball team routed the Storm 12-1 in Game 2 to take three of four games in the series.
The Eagles are 32-14 overall and 21-7 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, one game behind Northwood (30-16, 21-5) for first place in the North Division. The Storm are 7-36, 6-22.
Lake Erie got on the board first in the opener with a run in the bottom of the first, but back-to-back home runs from sophomore left fielder
Ian Sanders (two-run) and sophomore third baseman
Cam Scott (solo) made it a 3-1 AU advantage.
After the Storm scored once in the second to cut the deficit to 3-2, junior second baseman
Devin Hukill's sacrifice fly in the fourth once again made it a two-run game at 4-2. Lake Erie kept coming, scoring a run in the fifth for a 4-3 gap, but sophomore first baseman
Sam Witt's three-run homer in the seventh gave Ashland its biggest lead of the game at 7-3.
Lake Erie, however, scored four runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to pull out the victory.
Game 2 started with Ashland scoring first on an RBI double from fifth-year left fielder
Seth Schroeder, an RBI single from sophomore catcher
Ben Peltz, Peltz scoring on a wild pitch, and redshirt freshman right fielder
Chris Franks' RBI single.
A run-scoring single from sophomore center fielder
Cam Miller extended AU's lead to 5-0 in the fourth, then the Storm got on the board with a run in the fourth. Ashland scored five more runs in the sixth, and then two in the seventh on a two-run single from redshirt freshman catcher
Steve Essig.
NOTABLES
- In Game 1, Witt drove in three runs, and Sanders two. Sanders was 2-for-3 with a homer and a run scored.
- Junior right-handed pitcher Zac Common (6-2) worked the last three innings, allowing eight hits, five runs and two walks and striking out five.
- The nightcap saw Miller go 3-for-4 with a double, run scored and two RBIs, and Witt go 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
- Scott (6-3) worked six innings, allowing just two hits, an unearned run and two walks and whiffing five.
UP NEXT
The final four games of the 2023 regular season, starting with a doubleheader on Friday (May 5) at 1 p.m. at Tomassi Stadium and Donges Field at the Archer Ballpark Complex against Hillsdale (21-22, 16-10).
