GOSHEN, Ind. - The Goshen baseball team lost two narrow games against the Mount Vernon Nazarene Cougars on Wednesday by a combined three runs. MVNU won game one 8-7 in ten innings and took game two 9-7.
Game One
Goshen starter
Dakota Perry held Mount Vernon scoreless in the first two innings but the Cougars had a two-RBI double immediately followed by an RBI triple from the next batter.
Justin Dambruck hit an RBI double for the Maple Leafs in the bottom half of the inning to make it 3-1.
The Cougars scored an unearned run in the fourth inning, and Perry finished with three earned runs allowed in four innings of work. He faced 23 batters - the most he has faced this season. In the bottom of the fifth, the Leafs scored on a sac fly and a pair of run-producing doubles from
Trent Sillett and
Fernando Marte Santana. By then the Leafs led 5-4.
MVNU scored three runs in the next two innings to go up 7-5. In the bottom of the ninth, Goshen had two quick outs on a flyout and groundout. However,
Justin Dambruck came up next and singled and advanced to second after an error.
Chase Smith then doubled to score Dambruck and
Trent Sillett came up next with an RBI single to score Smith. Sillett was tagged out trying to get to second and the teams went to extras.
The Cougars started with a walk and then a sac bunt with an errant throw allowed the baserunner to make his way around and score. The Leafs went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the tenth.
Lance Wilson had the loss, giving up no earned runs but one run in the last 2.2 innings. The Goshen pitchers combined to throw 12 strikeouts, their most in a game this season.
Justin Dambruck went 3-4 with two runs.
Fernando Marte Santana was 3-4 and
Trent Sillett had three RBIs.
Game Two
The Cougars scored on a wild pitch in the top of the first in game two, but Goshen had a dramatic response with a five-run first inning.
Justin Dambruck hit an RBI triple, his second triple of the season. It was the first of four hits in the inning, with an RBI single from
Trent Sillett coming next, then a two-RBI double from
Owen Tyers and finally an RBI single from
Jackson Whittington. Those were the first RBIs of the season for Tyers and Whittington.
The score stayed 5-1 through four innings. Brand Wright Barron, Goshen's starter, allowed three hits in the fourth inning, but was taken out when MVNU pulled within one in the fifth. By the time the inning was over, they had taken a 6-5 lead. They added a two-run home run in the sixth and a sac bunt in the seventh. The Leafs scored on their second triple of the day in the bottom of the seventh, off the bat of
Chase Smith. It was their first game with two triples since April 19, 2024, also against Mount Vernon Nazarene.
Trent Sillett hit a sacrifice fly to make it 9-7 but it was followed by a popup and a strikeout to end the game.
Wright Barron went four innings on the mound for the Leafs, allowing six earned runs. The top five batters in Goshen's lineup all had a hit.
Jackson Whittington went 2-3 with an RBI and is 5-10 in his last five at-bats.
Trent Sillett and Owen Tyres had two RBIs apiece.
Goshen hosts MVNU on Thursday at 12:00 pm for their final home games of the season.
