By Seth Wesman
Sports Information Intern

BEREA, Ky. — The Goshen College baseball team wrapped up spring break with a weekend sweep of Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. The Leafs won a pair of one-run contests on Saturday with a 2-1 extra innings win and a 5-4 win before taking Sunday's games 12-7 and 21-5.

Coupled with a sweep of Toccoa Falls College in a Monday doubleheader, the Maple Leafs (7-8) have now won six consecutive contests, the most since they won seven in a row from March 31 to April 9, 2005. The spurt marks just the fourth time in the 61 years of Maple Leaf baseball that the team has won six straight games, with the caveat that the full schedule is only known for 57 of those seasons.

SATURDAY: Goshen 2, Berea 1, 9 innings (box score)

Saturday's first game saw Goshen (7-8) and Berea (2-7) each plate a run in the third inning before the regularly scheduled seven inning game required extra innings to decide the outcome. Preston Carr scored the eventual winning run in the top of the ninth on a Mountaineer error.

Braedon Evans threw a nine-inning complete game for Goshen, allowing a single run on 5 hits while striking out 7 on 101 pitches. Vincent Caschera collected the Leafs' lone RBI of the contest when he brought Brad Stoltzfus in to score in the third inning. Seven different Leafs collected a single hit with no one on Goshen recording multiple hits.

Berea sent Michael Smither to the mound and he gave up a run on 6 hits before Joshua Durbin pitched the final three innings, taking the loss. Joshua Works drove in the Mountaineer's only run with Andrew Adkins crossing home plate.

SATURDAY: Goshen 5, Berea 4 (box score)

Game two on Saturday saw the teams trade early runs with Berea taking a 4-2 lead into the top of the sixth, before Goshen struck for a trio of runs to take a 5-4 lead that would hold up for the win.

Blake Collins got the start for Goshen and gave up 4 runs with 3 unearned in 5 innings of work. Travis Grimm and Spenser Triplett each pitched an inning with Triplett recording the save. Carr led the offense with a pair of RBIs as Kody McGuire, Anthony Todaro and Cody McCoy each driving in one run apiece. Quinlan Armstrong led the Leafs with 2 runs scored.

Berea's Norris Griffen got the start before giving way to Tyler Pope to start the sixth inning. Nicholas Bottom, Caleb Gupton and William Hislope each drove in a run for the Mountaineers with Dallas Adkins scoring twice.

SUNDAY: Goshen 12, Berea 7 (box score)

In Sunday's games, Goshen jumped out to an early 7-1 lead before Berea responded with 3 runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Leafs answered with 5 runs in the top of the fifth for a 12-4 lead that held up despite a late Berea push as Goshen took game one 12-7.

Ryan Hartig was a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate and drove in a game-high 3 runs with Armstrong, Triplett, McCoy and Clinton Stroble II each driving in a pair. Caschera collected the Leafs' other RBI and Hartig led the team in runs scored with 4.

Michael Walker allowed only a single earned run on 5 hits with 7 strl in 5 innings of work for the Leafs. Colton Daniel and Kyle Kotecki each pitched an inning in relief for Goshen. The punchouts allowed Walker to slide into 10th place on Goshen's career strikeout list with 132; he needs 11 2/3 more innings pitched to crack the top 10 in that category. Despite that track record, he will still likely graduate holding the second-most GC records in his immediate family: his mother, the former Kim Roth, graduated in 1988 with five women's track records.

Joshua Works took the loss for Berea, allowing 6 runs in 3 innings of work. Nolan Sanders, Jalen Prater and Aaron Duncan pitched in relief over the final 4 innings. Seven different Mountaineers drove in a run for Berea.

SUNDAY: Goshen 21, Berea 5 (box score)

Sunday's final contest saw Goshen take a 12-5 lead by the fifth inning, before tacking on 9 more runs across the sixth and seventh frames for their highest single-game scoring output since 2009. The Leafs were able to score in all but the third and fifth inning and never plated fewer than 3 runs in the innings they scored.

Grimm got the 'W' for Goshen with Brad Lantz, James Stricker and Colby Malson all making appearances on the mound. Stroble drove in a game-high 6 runs with Malson adding 5 of his own. Carr, Stoltzfus, Hartig and McGuire drove in 2 apiece with McCoy and Kristopher Plough each adding 1 RBI. Caschera, Stroble, Malson, McGuire and McCoy tied for the team lead in runs scored with 3 each as Armstrong crossed home plate twice.

Chad Brown started for Berea and pitched 3 2/3 innings before giving way to Zach Withers, Daniel Gillum and Nygiel Tharpe. Ryan Blevens topped Berea with 2 RBIs as Bottom, Ron Overstreet and Hislope each drove in a run.

The 33 runs in Sunday's doubleheader were the most Goshen has scored in a twinbill since hanging 38 on Great Lakes Christian on March 20, 2009. This weekend is also believed to mark the first time in program history that GC has won four straight games and bested the same opponent in each; however, Crossroads League schools did not begin playing four consecutive games against the same opponent until 2002.

Over the course of the weekend, Carr entered the top 10 in school history in career doubles with 29; Caschera finishes ninth in runs batted in (88) and walks (71). 

Goshen will be back in action this next weekend when it hosts Cleary University for a three-game set Friday and Saturday. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. for a single game, with a doubleheader slated for 1 p.m. Saturday. As with any outdoor event, but particularly one slated for early March, the schedule is subject to change.