FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Maple Leafs baseball team dropped a pair of games at Saint Francis on Wednesday. The Cougars won game one 12-6 before shutting out the Leafs 8-0 in game two.
The Cougars were hot right out of the gates. David Miller was hitting in the three-hole and had a two-run homer in the first – part of a three-run inning.
Peyton Smith scored for the Maple Leafs in the top of the fourth, but Saint Francis added three more in the bottom half of the inning.
It was a part of nine straight runs for USF, as they tapped on another in the fifth and five in the sixth.
Goshen was down 12-1, but they still showed some fight. The Maple Leafs patiently took pitches, walked five times in the seventh, and walked in two runs. In the top of the ninth, they rattled off three hits.
Camm Nickell scored on a wild pitch, and
Morgan Baker scored from a groundout by
Trent Sillett.
Joseph Cerda scored on another wild pitch. Despite the late rally, the Leafs lost game one 12-6.
Hunter Frost earned the win for the Cougars, allowing one earned run and four hits in six innings. Nickell took the loss, allowing three earned runs in one inning pitched. Freshmen
Josh Murphy and
Trent Sillett combined to strike out four and allow no runs over the final 2.1 innings.
For Saint Francis, Miller, Xavier Nolan, and Jose Valdes-Sandoval each had three RBIs. Baker and Cerda each had multiple hits for the Maple Leafs. The teams combined for 23 walks and 17 hits.
Saint Francis also put runs on the board early on in game two. Alec Brunson hit a sacrifice fly in the first and reached base on an error in the second. A run scored on each occurrence, and the Cougars were up 2-0.
After that, Goshen pitcher
Jack Bennett settled in, allowing just one hit and no runs in the next two innings. Deron Swanson was excelling on the mound as well for Saint Francis.
The Cougars had four runs from six hits in the bottom of the fifth. Most notable was a bases-clearing double from Collin Landrum. The big inning brought the lead to 8-0, the final score.
Swanson threw a complete seven innings on the mound, allowing no earned runs and five hits. He struck out four batters and walked two. Bennett finished with 4.1 innings pitched for Goshen. He struck out five but gave up four earned runs and walked five.
Nickell was 2-3 for Goshen with a double. Cerda,
Evan Creager, and
Gabe Kermode had the remaining hits for the Leafs.
Due to weather conditions, Friday's games have been pushed back to Monday. The Leafs will conclude the series with a doubleheader at Saint Francis on Monday, March 14, at 1:00 pm.
