TOLEDO, Ohio — The Goshen College baseball team would like a word with whoever coined the phrase "it's not how you start, it's how you finish" after opening Tuesday's doubleheader at Lourdes University with a 7-2 lead and going on to lose both games at Mercy Field.
The Gray Wolves outscored the Maple Leafs 11-2 in the final three-and-a-half innings of game one to convert their deficit into a 13-9 win before winning the second game 27-1.
Goshen (3-26) took a 3-0 lead in the opening half-inning of the twinbill. Peyton Smith wasted no time hitting the first pitch to left field for a double and Evan Creager drove him in with a single four pitches later. After two flyouts and a walk, Morgan Baker lashed a double to right-center to score Creager and Austin Bontrager to triple the lead.
Lourdes (12-14) recorded an unearned run in the bottom of the first before four straight singles gave the Maple Leafs two more runs in the top of the second: hits by Smith and Creager knocked in Justin Harris and Char Reeves respectively.
A Noah Childress double plated Jay Denman in the bottom of the third before the Maple Leafs turned a double play to get out of the inning. Goshen got RBI singles from Creager and Jenner Rodammer to take a 7-2 lead in the middle of the fourth for its largest margin of the day.
Rodammer drove in Smith for a second time in the sixth inning and then scored on a balk to give the Maple Leafs a 9-5 lead, but the momentum had begun to shift as the Gray Wolves scored three times in the fourth and eight more in the sixth.
Goshen laced 15 hits on the day: Smith led all players with 3, including a pair of doubles, while Creager also had 3 hits and Baker also had 3 doubles. Lourdes added 13 hits of its own, getting 3 from Bryce Gargus.
Benjamin Witterstaetter started for the Maple Leafs and left in line for the win, giving up 4 earned runs on 7 hits in 4 innings of work. Gabe Kermode retired the last two Gray Wolves to finish the game. On the Lourdes sided, Spencer Rader pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief of Joey Oehlers to get the win.
Game two began with four consecutive outs before quickly taking a turn toward the ignominious, as Lourdes scored nine runs in the first inning, seven in the second and four in the third. Baker added an RBI single in the top of the second inning for GC's first run.
The Maple Leafs added three singles in the third inning before leaving the bases loaded. Creager also singled in the fifth.
Lourdes tacked on an additional run in the fifth inning before scoring six times in the sixth.
Childress whacked two homers and a double while going 4 for 4 at the plate and driving in 6 runs; Josh Hare, Zack Mon and Max Peyton each had 3 hits. Creager singled twice for GC.
Anderson Strunk worked 4 innings and threw 39 pitches without allowing an earned run for Lourdes. Goshen used seven pitchers.
The Maple Leafs return to Crossroads League play this weekend when they travel to Huntington University for a four-game series consisting of two doubleheaders. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday at Forest Glen Park.
