INDIANAPOLIS — The Goshen College baseball team threw the fourth no-hitter in program history Friday evening but took the loss in all four games of its weekend series with Marian University at the MU Ballpark in Indiana's capital city.
The Knights walked off the Maple Leafs in the first and fourth games of the series as they held on to a third-place standing in the 10-team Crossroads League. Peyton Smith led Goshen with four hits across the weekend while Jenner Rodammer and Austin Bontrager had three each.
Friday, game 1: Marian 1, Goshen 0
The teams combined to play a regulation nine-inning game in less than two hours, starting at 3:30 p.m. and wrapping things up at 5:27. All seven hits in the game were singles, 11 batters swung at the first pitch and nine more put the second in play, and 13 batters struck out.
Nate Lange got the first hit of the game for the Maple Leafs in the first inning before Noah Sackenheim finished off a complete-game shutout for Marian, throwing 115 pitches and striking out 10. Kyle Staelgraeve nearly matched the effort, throwing 8 1/3 innings for GC and striking out 3.
The Knights got runners to third base in the first, second and fifth innings before scoring their only run in the ninth. Sean Dieppa led off the inning by being hit with a pitch and Bryce Davenport bunted him to second while reaching safely. After a sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position, chasing Staelgraeve, the next two batters were each also hit by pitches.
Marian's six hits came from six players. Matteo Porcellato was credited with the game-winning run batted in. Trey Heidlage stole a base.
Friday, game 2: Marian 6, Goshen 0
For the first time in almost 16 years, the Maple Leafs put a goose egg on the scoreboard in the opponents' hit column, but another complete-game effort from MU starter Kole Aping shut down the Goshen offense as well while the Knights found other ways to get on the scoreboard.
Colton Daniel pitched 3 1/3 innings for Goshen, striking out 4, before Toby Fox worked 1 2/3 innings and Ben Witterstaetter tossed the final frame. The three Goshen hurlers combined for 7 strikeouts but also walked 10 batters, hit 4 and threw 3 wild pitches to go with a balk.
Evan Creager led off the game with a single on the second pitch, but Aping struck out 12 of the 25 men he faced and never allowed GC to get a runner past second base. He finished the game by setting down the last eight men he faced.
The Knights loaded the bases on a hit batter and two walks in the third inning, scoring once on a passed ball and again on a wild pitch before ending the inning on a groundout, their first ball in play.
Two walks and a sacrifice bunt combined to put two men in scoring position with one out in the fourth, when a wild pitch scored the third run before another walk and a hit batter loaded the bases again. GC walked in three more runs before getting out of that inning.
Fox worked a perfect fifth and Witterstaetter got three of the four men he faced in the sixth.
Dion Wintjes worked three walks and Hiro Kato and Heidlage each had two for Marian. Heidlage and Porcellato each scored twice.
The previous three Goshen no-hitters were all complete-game 7-inning efforts. Aaron Keister (March 28, 2006, at Judson) and Gary Kenawell (April 25, 1964 at Saint Francis) won by 9-0 and 6-0 counts respectively; Kevin "Scoop" Miller lost his no-hitter 1-0 thanks to two errors on April 27, 1982 at Grace.
Saturday, game 1: Marian 8, Goshen 3
Peyton Smith went 3 for 3 for the Maple Leafs, but the Knights broke open a 2-0 game with six runs in the bottom of the fourth to clinch the series win. A quintet of Marian players had two hits apiece: Kato, Davenport and Caden Jones each finished with two runs batted in.
GC took the lead on its first hit of the game when Bontrager singled in Rodammer in the first inning, then doubled it on a wild pitch in the second. The final run came in the seventh on back-to-back doubles by Smith and Jaylen Dickey.
In between, Marian scored six times on seven hits in the fourth, getting six singles along with a Porcellato double and a Heidlage sacrifice fly. Jones knocked in two runs with a single while Kato, Davenport and Dion Wintjes each had run-scoring hits: Wintjes' was his second single of the inning.
Baylee Young came out of the Goshen bullpen and retired 10 of the first 12 men he faced before Kato and Davenport had run-scoring hits in the eighth.
Jake Marin went 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief for Marian, picking up the win in relief of Brandon Puckett. The two men combined for 7 of the team's 11 strikeouts.
Saturday, game 2: Marian 4, Goshen 3, 9 innings
The Maple Leafs got their biggest inning of the season in the second to take a 3-0 lead, but Marian came back to tie the score in the seventh inning and won the game in extras as the field lights began to take effect on the final day of standard time before the time change.
Rodammer, Bontrager and Reese Whelen each had two hits for GC, but Jackson Hogg made his 3 hits count as he drove in each of the Knights' last 3 runs to make a relief winner out of Reese Wills. Jones also had two hits.
After a hitless first, Goshen put up a two-out rally in the second with three straight singles, the last of which came from Char Reeves and scored Reece Willis from second. That set up a double steal that brought Bobby Garcia home before Reeves came in on a Rodammer triple that made it 3-0.
Marian left runners on third in the second and the fourth before loading the bases in the fifth inning, when Jones' double scored Kahi'au Quartero. Reliever Keegan Kwong got the Maple Leafs out of that inning with a 3-1 lead.
Wintjes and Porcellato started the seventh inning, which is the last inning scheduled in a conference series, by getting hit with pitches before Quartero sacrificed them to second and third. Smith struck out Jones to bring GC within one out of the win before Hogg unleashed a game-tying single to right. After a single put the ballgame at third base, Davenport struck out to end the threat.
Goshen got singles in both extra innings, but Marian strung its hits together in the ninth. Porcellato led off with a single and Quartero bunted him over. After an intentional walk to Jones, Hogg singled through the hole on the right side to score the winning run.
Camm Nickell got 8 of his 14 outs via strikeout while allowing a run on four hits for GC. Smith took the loss in relief with 3 strikeouts. Marian starter Tanner Simpson struck out 10 in 6 2/3 innings and Wills went the last 2 1/3 for the win.
Up Next: Goshen plays its home opener on Wednesday in a doubleheader with Cleary University. That starts a 16-game homestand which includes three conference series. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.
