N. MANCHESTER, Indiana - The Mount St. Joseph baseball team hit the road on Saturday, heading to take on the Manchester Spartans in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference double-header. The Lions got a comeback win in game one, and led late in game two before a walk-off win for the Spartans
GAME ONE | MSJ 6 - Manchester 4
The Lions opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning, as
Anton Mere led off the game with a double to right field and came around to score on a two-out single from
Brennan Martin.Â
The Mount sent Ryan Caulfied to the mound to open the game as an opener, the senior lefty pitched the first inning allowing a pair of baserunners.
The Mount stretched their lead to three in the second as
Sean Moore led off with a single to left field and scored on a two-run homer off the bat of
Jackson Gutzwiller.
Manchester would tie the game in the bottom of the frame, on the strength of a three-run homer.Â
Zach deSylva came on in the third inning, allowing Manchester to take the lead with an uneanred run. From that point on the freshman was lights out for Coach Newman's bunch. deSylva pitched the final 7.0 innings of the game, allowing five hits and just the one run.Â
The Lions tied the score again at four in the fifth, with
Jake Sanders singling to score
Andrew Harrison.Â
The score remained tied until the top of the ninth inning when the Mount scored twice.
Austin Buckle led off with a double, Mere followed with a walk and
Jordan Harley reached on an error to load the bases with no-outs.
Andrew Harrison then singled into center field to score a pair and put the Lions ahead for good.Â
deSylva pitched a perfect ninth inning to secure his fourth win of the season.Â
GAME TWO | Manchester 5 - MSJ 4
The Lions sent sophomore
Nolan Miller to the hill to start game two of the double-header looking for a sweep. He was outstanding, pitching the front 8+ innings holding the hot hitting Spartans to just 4 runs in the longest outing of his career.Â
The Mount got the scoring started in the top of the second with Sanders drilling a solo homerun his fourth of the season.Â
Manchester scored three unanswered runs, scoring once in the bottom of the second, fifth and sixth innings. Miller did well to avoid the big inning, keeping the Spartans from scoring multiple runs in any inning.Â
They continued to lead until the top of the eighth inning, Sanders led off with a double and
Sean Moore followed that up with a walk.
Ethan Mason then beat out an infield single to lead the bases. An out later Buckle tied the game with a two-run single to right, Mere then reached via an error pushing the go-ahead run in on the play.
The Lions went into the ninth with a one run lead, Miller gave up a single to start the inning and was lifted for Josh Issacs. Issacs got two quick outs and twice had Manchester down to their final strike. Manchester got a single putting runners on the corners with two outs, and then a double earned the Spartans the walk-off win.
UP NEXT:
The Lions will be back at it tomorrow, welcoming the Bluffton Beavers to Midland Field for another HCAC double-header. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 1:00 PM.Â
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