CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Mount St. Joseph baseball team got their 2026 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule underway, hosting Berea in a double-header at Midland Field in Batavia. The Lions won game one 4-3, before a mercy-rule 12-2 win in game two.
GAME ONE | WP: Mossbarger (1-1) ; SV: Frye (2)
The Lions sent senior left-hander
Sam Huston to the mound to start the game and he gave them a quality start. In his five innings of work, Huston worked around traffic the whole game to allow only a single unearned run. All-told he allowed 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6.
In the bottom of the second the Lions got on the board first,
Will Record was hit-by-pitch to start the inning and quickly stole second base. An out later
Andrew Clements drilled an RBI single through the right side to get the Lions on the board.
Berea came back to tie the game at one in the top of the fifth with a single unearned run off of Huston.
The Mount scored once in the sixth and seventh, in the sixth
Jordan Harley led off with a double that ended up a little league homerun due to a throwing error. In the seventh Clements drilled a one-out single, he was lifted for a pinch-runner.
Devin Perry came on and stole second base and scored on a two-out RBI single from
AJ Meyer.
Joseph Mossbarger relieved Huston in the sixth and was nearly perfect in the sixth and seventh, in the eighth though Berea scored twice to tie the game. Mossbarger was able to retire the side with the bases loaded keeping the game tied.
In the bottom of the 8th,
Austin Buckle led off with a double to right field. Harley followed with a bunt single, and
Ethan Mason executed a perfect saftey squeeze to score the go ahead run.
Matt Frye would come on in the ninth to earn his second save of the season, he needed just seven pitches to retire the side including a pair of strikeouts.
GAME TWO | WP: Issacs (2-1)
In game two the Lions ran junior right-hander
Josh Isaacs out to the mound to start the game and he was fantastic. He pitched the front 7.0 innings, allowing 3 hits and no runs while striking out 5 and walking 2, earning his second win of the season.
Austin Buckle led of the game for the Mount with a basehit, moving to second on an error. He would score an out later on an RBI single from Mason. In the bottom of the second they added three more, Clements led off with a single, an out later Meyer got a bunt basehit. Buckle was hit-by-pitch to load the bases, the first run of the inning scored as Clements scored on a passed ball. Harley then beat out an infield single to score the second run of the inning and the final once again came on a passed ball.
After not scoring in the the third the Liosn scored three more in the 4th to go up 7-0. Meyer led off with a single, and an out later he would advance to both second and then third on wild pitches, Harley walked and Mason was hit-by-pitch to load the bases.
Brennan Martin then drilled a single up the middle that drove in two, on the play Martin got caugh in no-mans land rounding first, he was eventually tagged out but allowed Mason to score the third run of the inning.
They would score two more in the bottom of the sixth with RBIs coming from Mason and
Zac Clow, putting the Lions ahead 9-0.
Berea finally got on the board with two in the top of the eighth, but the Lions roared back with three in the bottom of the inning to secure the 12-2 mercy-rule victory.
UP NEXT: The Lions will hit the road tomorrow to finish off their four game HCAC opening weekend, they will take on the Frankling Grizzlies starting at 11:00 AM.
