SENECA, Mo. - After two narrow defeats against Ecclesia College,
Jenner Rodammer had a 5-5 day at the plate with a grand slam and nine RBIs in an emphatic 16-0 Goshen victory.
Friday - Ecclesia 6, Goshen 2
Due to field conditions after a storm, all games were played on a turf field in Seneca, Missouri instead of the original site in Springdale, Arkansas. The doubleheader on Friday was changed to a single nine-inning game. In that game, the Royals built a 5-0 lead with three second inning runs. Cade Mitchell was hit by a pitch and Clayton Philips scored from third. Then the Royals walked in a run and scored an unearned run on a fielding error. In the fourth inning, they scored an unearned run on an error by the shortstop as a player stole second, and Coleson Coffey scored an unearned run in the sixth on a bunt from Wyatt Moss with an error from the first baseman.
The Maple Leafs scored their first run in the seventh when
Jenner Rodammer walked with the bases loaded, scoring
Justin Dambruck. Later in the inning, the Leafs got an unearned run as
Peyton Smith got on base from an error and
Trent Sillett scored.
The Royals scored one more run in the eighth on an RBI double and won the game 6-2.
Joseph Cerda was 3-3 at the plate for Goshen with a double and a walk.
Eric Pettipiece had the loss, allowing two earned runs in three innings with five strikeouts.
Benjamin Witterstaetter allowed one earned run and no walks in four innings of relief.
Dalton Soergel allowed no hits when he pitched the final inning for Goshen.
Saturday Game One - Ecclesia 4, Goshen 3
Goshen scored first in game one on Saturday, scoring when
Jenner Rodammer homered in the three-hole to left field in the first inning.
Joseph Cerda, batting cleanup, followed with another homer to left and it was a 2-0 in the middle of the first. Coffey hit an RBI double to center in the second to put the Royals on the board, and he scored later in the inning as Moss grounded out. With a tied game in the top of the third,
Austin Martin scored for GC on a Rodammer groundout to put the Leafs back in front.
The lead held as
AJ Lenn came on the mound for Goshen in the fifth and sixth innings and didn't allow any runs while striking out four batters and walking none. Goshen couldn't add any runs either, as Derek Harbison settled on the mound for Ecclesia. In the seventh inning, the Royals ended the drought as Tyler Davis tripled and David Frawley scored. Davis came around on a wild pitch and Ecclesia won 4-3.
Lance Wilson had the loss for Goshen, pitching the final two thirds of an inning. The teams combined for seven hits and no errors.
Saturday Game Two - Goshen 16, Ecclesia 0
Game two was an offensive explosion for Goshen. While the Leafs had three hits in all seven innings of game one, they had four hits in the first inning of game two alone. In the first,
Preston Anderson singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Rodammer doubled to center, which brought Anderson around to home. Cerda singled to score Rodammer, and Goshen led 2-0.
They came back with more scoring in the second. Goshen capitalized off of three Ecclesia errors in the inning and scored five runs on four hits. Rodammer had his second double of the game, which scored Anderson and Dambruck. In the third, Rodammer singled and added two more RBIs to his total, scoring Dambruck and
Collin Echols. That made it 9-0, and an RBI double from
Peyton Smith scored Rodammer and gave Goshen a double-digit lead.
David Lopez took care of business on the mound. While he allowed six walks in his four innings pitched, he didn't give up any runs and allowed just one hit.
After a couple of scoreless innings, GC put up six runs in the sixth - and it was thanks to
Jenner Rodammer yet again. After a sacrifice fly from
Justin Dambruck and Peyton Anderson getting hit by a pitch, the bases were loaded for Rodammer as he hit a grand slam to left. That extended the lead to 15-0, and an RBI double from
Gabe Kermode later in the inning made it 16-0.
Rodammer finished the game going 5-5 with two doubles and a grand slam with nine RBIs in the seven-inning game. Preston Carr was the last Maple Leaf to have five hits in a game when he did son in the Crossroads League tournament against Marian on May 8, 2017. Since 2006, when the NAIA started collecting game-by-game stats on a national level, Omar Hernandez is the only other Goshen player to have more than six RBIs in a game. He had seven against Manchester on March 11, 2011.
Josh Murphy,
Connor Daniel and
Austin Martin each threw an inning in relief for Goshen. The pitching staff combined to allow just two hits in the game with no runs and 12 strikeouts.
David Lopez earned the win and is now 1-1 this season.
This was the first win of the season for Goshen. Next weekend they take on Brescia in Owensboro, Kentucky. They will play a doubleheader on Saturday, February 25, at 2:00 pm followed by a single nine-inning game on Sunday, February 26, at noon.