Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 |
Box Score 3 After a convincing 14-1 victory over the Pioneers of Transylvania on Tuesday, Mount St. Joseph would look to stay hot over conference rival Bluffton in a three-game weekend series.
GAME ONE
The Lions would send ace Alex Wagner (West Chester, OH / Lakota West) to the hill to try to take game one of the series. Wagner would not have his best stuff working on Friday. He would surrender 5 earned runs over 5 innings of work, striking out just 1 batter.
The offense did not do him any favors. Mount St. Joseph was able to capitalize on a Bluffton error in the fourth inning and push two runs across the plate. However, that would be their only offense of the game until the final inning when they added one more run. When the final out was recorded, Mount St. Joseph had fallen to Bluffton by a score of 8-3.
GAME TWO
The Lions rode into Saturday knowing they still had a chance to win the series if they could sweep the doubleheader. Mount St. Joseph would send Austin Richey (Cincinnati, OH / CCD) to the bump to try to help the Lions convert they play into a win in game one. Richey would have his second straight stellar outing, although he would not get the win. His start would span 6.1 innings, striking out 4 batters and allowing just 1 run.
The offense got off to a slow start again on Saturday. In fact, they did not get their first runner on base until there was one out in the seventh inning. Matt Hofmann (Cincinnati, OH / Elder) was able to break up the perfect game by turning his back and reaching base on a hit by pitch. Nathan Hunter (Vevay, IN / Switzerland County) followed that up with a shot through the left side of the infield. Roman Rothwell (Monroe, OH / Monroe) fell right in line with the Lion momentum and sent a missile over the left fielder's head to plate Hofmann and tie the game. When Garrett Hogan (Hamilton, OH / Badin) stepped to the plate to lead off the eighth inning he would send a bomb over the fence in left-center, giving the Lions a 2-1 lead. It was Hogan's first home run of his career.
Jacob Gunnell (Hamilton, OH / Fairfield) would pick up the win for Mount St. Joseph in the first game of the doubleheader. He came in to relieve Richey in the seventh inning and would work 2.1 innings for the Lions on the day before Matt Hofmann came in for the final out of the game and slammed the door on the Beavers. Hofmann would pick up his second save of the season and the Lions would win 2-1.
GAME THREE
Paul Spaulding (Cincinnati, OH / LaSalle) would get the call for Mount St. Joseph in game three with the series on the line. Spaulding would turn in a phenomenal start for the Lions, tossing 7 shutout innings and striking out 5 Beavers.
The offense would strike first, pushing one run across the plate in the second inning on a Zak Farmer (Hamilton, OH / Lakota West) RBI single up the middle. The Lions would strike again in the sixth inning when Garrett Hogan would reach first on a fielding error by the third baseman that would allow the runners on second and third to score for Mount St. Joseph.
After Bluffton would score their only two runs of the game in the eighth inning, Roman Rothwell would send a missile over the left field fence in the home half of the eighth inning, adding an insurance run for the Lions.
Matt Hofmann would come on and throw the remaining 1.2 innings of the game for Mount St. Joseph. He would pick up his second save on the day and his third save of the season as the Lions would go on to defeat the Beavers of Bluffton in the series finale by a score of 4-2.
LIONS AT THE PEAK
Starting pitching was the reason the Lions were able to get it done this weekend against Bluffton. The two pitchers who took the ball on Saturday, Austin Richey and Paul Spaulding, were the reasons Mount St. Joseph was able to recover from fumbling the first game on Friday to come back and win the series. The two pitchers combined to throw 13.1 innings on Saturday and give up just 1 earned run between them.
UP NEXT
The Lions are back in action on Tuesday evening against Earlham. This will be the first game of the season at Midland Field. First pitch is set for 6:00 PM as the Lions try to take the first contest of the year from the Quakers.
