LEXINGTON, Kentucky - The Mount baseball team having clinched a spot in the HCAC Tournament yesterday headed south to Lexington trying to improve their seed for that upcoming tournament. Wins against Transylvania would push the Lions to a higher seed. The Lions swept the double-header clinching the fourth seed in the upcoming HCAC Tournament.
GAME ONE | MSJ 15 - Transy 3 (WP: Derek RIchter, LP: J. Moberly)
Game one of the double-header was scoreless through the front two and a half innings. Transy would get on the board with three runs in the bottom of the third, it would be the only runs they scored against the Lions in the game. Outside of that third inning Lions starter
Derek Richter was outstanding, throwing 6.0 innings allowing six hits just the three runs and striking out two.
The Lions answered the Transy three-spot immediately, scoring seven times in the top of the fourth.
Jackson Gutzwiller and
Jordan Harley led of the inning with back-to-back solo homeruns.
Jake Sanders then singled, and advanced to second on a passed ball.
Brennan Martin followed with a walk, and
Matt Brankamp singled on a bunt single which loaded the bases.
Anton Mere followed that up with hit a two-run single into leftfield, then stealing second base. An out later
Ethan Mason was intenionally walked to load the bases again and
Kevin Schaaf delivered a two-run single. The final run of the inning came via a Transy error which allowed Mason to score the seventh run of the inning.
The Lions added two in the seventh and six in the eighth to put the game in range for the mercy-rule victory.
Brendan Hosler came out of the bullpen in the seventh inning, pitching the final two innings of the game allowing only three hits.
GAME TWO | MSJ 8 - Transy 5 (WP:
Jeff Kist, LP: N. Hale)
The Lions got the scoring started in the top of the first inning of game two,
Jake Lawson doubled with one out to get it started. Mason and Schaaf both reached after being hit-by-pitch to load teh bases.
Tyler Herbers drove in the first run of the game after grounding into a fielder's choice, and Harley followed with an RBI single.
Transy answered with one in the bottom of the inning against Lions starter
Sam Huston. The score would remain 2-1 until Transy came back to tie it at two in the bottom of the fourth. Huston went the front four innings, allowing five hits and two runs, while walking four. He did a great job to work around the baserunners to only allow the two-runs.
Jeff Kist came out of the Lions bullpen in the fifth inning, pitching the next four innings, allowing only two hits and one run while striking out five Pioneers. The outstanding relief appearance gave Kist his second win of the season.
The Mount took the lead back in the top of the sixth inning. Harley led it off with a single and then stole second base, an out later
Brennan Martin singled.
Matt Brankamp walked to load the bases with one out, an out later Lawson delivered an RBI bunt single to put the Lions ahead.
They then scored four times in the top of the seventh and one in the eighth inning. Leading 8-3 heading into the ninth inning the ball was turned over to
Ryan Caulfield, he would allow Transy to score a pair of runs but got the Lions out of it with an 8-5 victory.
UP NEXT: The Lions will head to Kokomo, Indiana next weekend for the HCAC Tournament. They have earned the #4 seed in the tournament due to their regular season performance. They will square off on Thursday with Anderson in the #4/#5 matchup at 1:15 PM. All live game coverage links will be posted on MSJLions.com as they become available.
