RICHMOND, Indiana - The Mount St. Joseph baseball team hit the road on Friday, heading to take on the Earlham Quakers in their final regular season games. The Lions got to Richmond with multiple pathways to the HCAC Tournament in Kokomo, Indiana but they knew they had to win at least one game. After dropping game one in extra innings, they bounced back to win game two by run-rule.
GAME ONE | Earlham 9 - MSJ 8 (10 innings)
Earlham took the lead early in the game with three through the first two innings off of Lions starter
Nolan Miller.Â
The Mount scored four times in the top of the third inning,
Andrew Clements led the inning off with a walk to get the rally started.
Austin Buckle and
Anton Mere delivered back-to-back bunt singles, anerror on Mere's bunt allowed Clements to score.
Jordan Harley drove in a run and reached via another error,
Andrew Harrison followed with a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position. After Mere scored ona a wild pitch,
Brennan Martin lifted a sacrifice fly into right to score the fourth run of the inning.Â
The score remained 4-3 Lions until the top of the sixth when the Mount scored a pair. Martin led off with a single and scored on an RBI double from
Jake Sanders, who then scored on an RBI single from
Ethan Mason.Â
Earlham tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run homerun, and then took the lead back with another two in the bottom of the 8th. The Lions rallied in the top of the 9th to score a pair of their own to tie the game, but were unable to get the big hit to go back ahead. Buckle led off with a ground-rule double to right field, Mere followed with a bunt single and Harley walked to load the bases. Harrison and Martin each hit into an RBI fielder's choice to tie the score at eight.
Kaiden Morris came on to pitch the ninth, Earlham loaded the bases but did not score forcing extra innings. The Lions went 1-2-3 in the top of the 10th, and Earlham scored one in the bottom of the inning for the walk-off win.Â
GAME TWO | MSJ 17 - Earlham 6 (7 innings)
With their post season hopes on the line the Lions sent sophomore right-hander
Jackson Bucks to the mound to start the game. Early it looked like Bucks' outing may be short lived, as the Quakers scored four times in the bottom of the 1st inning.Â
The Lions scored once in the top of the third to start their comeback. Mere started it off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Harley and an out later Martin delivered a two-out RBI single into centerfield.Â
Earlham got one back in the bottom of the inning, and the Lions answered that with another in the top of the fourth. Mason led off with a single, two-outs later Buckle drew a tough walk and Mere followed with an RBI double to right.
The Lions then exploded for eight runs in the top of the 5th, sending 13 batters to the plate.
Sean Moore delivered the big swing in the inning with a two-run double that tied the score at five. The Lions added one in the sixth, with two-outs Buckle singled and stole second. Mere then delivered an RBI single to give the Lions another run. Earlham answered with one in the bottom of the sixth.Â
They then exploded again in the top of the 7th, scoring six to blow the game open. Martin and Gutzwiller each had an RBI single and Harley a two-run single to put the game away.
Ryan Caulfield came on in the bottom of the 7th and threw a perfect inning to secure the win.
UP NEXT:
The Lions will await official word from the HCAC office, but it looks as though they have clinched a spot in the upcoming HCAC Tournament in Kokomo, Indiana. That tournament will kickoff on Thursday please check back with MSJLions.com for updates.
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