The No. RV Ashland University baseball team started a Great Midwest Athletic Conference series at Lake Erie on Thursday (April 17) night with a 9-0 win and a 5-4, nine-inning loss.
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Now 22-5 in their last 27 games, the Eagles move to 28-11 overall and 17-5 in the league. The Storm are 19-18, 11-11.
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Thursday's Game 1 win gives AU head coach
John Schaly 1,342 for his NCAA head coaching career – tying Southern California's Rod Dedeaux for 21
st place on the all-levels baseball wins list.
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In Thursday's opener, sophomore right-hander
Griffin Ailes (2-0) and freshman lefty
Owen Cavey (first collegiate save) combined for a four-hit shutout. Ailes went the first six innings, allowing three hits and three walks and striking out three, and now has thrown 18 scoreless innings at the varsity level so far this spring.
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Cavey took the last three frames and struck out five, while allowing one hit and one walk.
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The Eagles posted crooked numbers in the top of the third (two runs), sixth (three) and seventh (two) innings in Game 1.
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Thursday's nightcap had AU leading 2-0 going into the bottom of the seventh, when Lake Erie scored twice to force extra innings. Both teams scored a run in the eighth, then, after the Eagles scored in the ninth, the Storm plated two runs in the bottom of the frame for the split.
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…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- In the opener, junior left fielder Billy Howard finished 2-for-3 with a triple, RBI and two runs scored, while graduate designated hitter Max Caron was 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.
- Both junior first baseman Sam Witt and senior third baseman Jeremiah Cangelosi drove in two runs.
- Senior righty Chase Carter (3-3) took the loss in Game 2, going two innings, yielding four hits, three runs (one earned) and a walk and striking out one.
UP NEXT
Games 3 and 4 of the series, starting at 1 p.m., on Friday (April 18).
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