Lions sweep Yellow Jackets in HCAC baseball action
Defiance, Ohio - Due to unplayable field conditions at Craig A. Rutter Field, the Mount St. Joseph University Lions and Defiance College Yellow Jackets squared off Sunday afternoon at Defiance High School. The Lions would take both games in blowout fashion, 10-2 and 15-3.
The Lions improved to 15-20 overall and 5-13 in the HCAC. Defiance is now 4-28 overall and 1-17 in conference after dropping their eighth straight game.
Game 1
Final: MSJ 10, Defiance 2
The Lions jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead after a four-run first inning en route to their game one win. With two on and two out, Sam Thombs (L, 1-7) walked three straight and Andrew Clements added a two-run single in the inning.
An error by Trent Murdock allowed the Lions to plate one unearned run in the second inning. Murdock led off the bottom of the inning with a walk and scored on a double from Gunner Gregg to make it 5-1.
After getting five runs against Thombs, the Lions added five more off Defiance reliever Johnny Hammerstein. The blue and gold scored three in the seventh and tacked on two more in the ninth.
The Yellow Jackets would get a run in the ninth as well. Alex Morr led off the inning with an infield single and scored on a double from Murdock.
Morr led the Yellow Jackets with two hits in the game. Murdock, Gregg, Austin Horning, and Tim Bobek had one hit each.
Aidan Post (W, 4-5) threw a complete game for MSJ and struck out seven. Each hitter in the lineup had at least one hit.
Game 2
MSJ 15, Defiance 3
The Lions would take an early lead again by scoring once in the first to take a 1-0 lead. Mitchell Roever led off with a single for the Yellow Jackets. Alex Morr would follow with a single and Gunner Gregg would bring both home with a two-run double. Gregg would score on an RBI groundout from Hunter Bostater. With two outs, Jacob Hild singled and Garret Long doubled, but Dylan King struck out to end the inning.
Before Defiance took the field to start the second inning, hail started to fall and thunder roared, causing the game to enter a weather delay. The delay lasted a total of 58 minutes.
After the delay, it was all Mount St. Joseph. The Lions plated one run in the second and third innings to tie the game at 3. They would then add a six spot in the fourth and score at least one in the remaining three innings.
Tyler Sickmiller (L, 1-1) got his first start of the year and went 3.1 innings, allowed four earned runs, and struck out one. Ethan Jenkins, Jeffrey Varga, Jeremy Russo, and Damarius Taylor would relieve sickmiller.
Jenkins did not record an out (0.0 innings) and allowed five runs with four being earned. Varga went 1.2 innings, allowed three earned runs and struck out two. Russo pitched 1.0 innings and struck out two. Taylor pitched the final inning, allowed one earned run and struck out one.
Gregg had a multi-hit game for the Yellow Jackets. After getting five hits in the first inning, the Yellow Jackets only managed one hit in the final six innings.
Justin Hall, Alex Iserman, and Greg Kita each got an at bat in the final inning. Hall drew a walk and both Kita and Iserman struck out.
Derek Richter (W, 3-1) pitched 5.0 innings and struck out six for the Lions. Sam Huston relieved Richter and struck out five of the seven batters he faced in the 2.0 innings he worked.
The Yellow Jackets will return to Craig A. Rutter Field Tuesday afternoon for a non conference tilt against Ohio Northern. The game begins at 4 p.m.