KOKOMO, Indiana - The Mount St. Joseph baseball team got their HCAC Tournament started on Thursday with a pair of one-run games. The Lions, the #5 seed, took down the #4 seed Transylvania in their first game and then lost to #1 Manchester 6-5 in extra innings.
GAME ONE | #5 MSJ 7 - #4 Transy 6
The Lions sent right-hander
Nolan Miller to the mound to start game one, the sophomore did not have his best stuff but battled and kept the Lions in the game. Eventually earning his sixth win of the season.
The quartet of
Kaiden Morris,
Josh Isaacs,
Ian Busch and
Ryan Caulfield pitched 3.2 innings allowing only 4 hits and holding the Pioneers scoreless. Caulfield was magnificent, coming in with bases loaded in the 8th and slamming the door for his fourth save of the season.
Offensively the Lions got eight hits as a team with four coming off the bat of
Jake Sanders. The senior finished with 4 hits, 3 doubles, 3 RBIs and a run scored.
GAME TWO | #1 Manchester 6 - #5 MSJ 5 (10 innings)
Freshman right-hander
Zach deSylva started game two on the mound for the Lions and he was really good. Pitching the front 5.2 innings scattering seven hits, allowing only 2 runs.
The Lions scored first with a pair in the top of the third inning.
Austin Buckle led off with a single to right field, and
Anton Mere followed with a walk.
Jordan Harley then loaded the bases on a bunt single.
Andrew Harrison then laced an RBI single to left, scoring Buckle but in one of the biggest plays of the game Mere was thrown out at home trying to score.
Brennan Martin then drilled an RBI single up the middle to give the team a 2-0 lead.
Manchester added one in the bottom of the fifth and one in the sixth to tie the game. Both teams were held scoreless over the final three innings pushing the game to extra innings.
The Lions scrapped for three in the top of the tenth capitalizing on a couple of Manchester mistakes. Then in the bottom of the inning Manchester scored four times to walk it off, with all four runs being unearned.
UP NEXT:
The Lions will be back at it again tomorrow facing off with the #3 seed the Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers in a 1:15PM elimination game!
