Grace College Athletics recently issued the following announcement.
Cougars win opening day of series
St. Francis got the better of Grace's baseball team on Friday to start the four-game weekend series in Fort Wayne.
The Lancers (14-23, 8-16 Crossroads League) fell 5-3 and 2-1 in a pair of defensive battles.
Grace held the Cougars scoreless for every inning but two in the opening affair. The Cougars (23-18, 12-14 CL), however, only needed two innings to score five.
Both teams scored a run in the first inning. The Lancers' run came courtesy of an RBI double by Alex Rich.
The Cougars tied the game in the bottom of the first; USF then grabbed control of the game with a four-run third inning. The Cougars scored their runs in the third with two walks and three doubles.
Grace seemed poised to quickly rally. Rich tripled to start the fourth inning and was driven in with a sacrifice fly by Lucas Slager. Grace had runners at second and third, but the inning ended with a strikeout.
The scoring was replicated in the fifth. Patrick Danforth tripled and scored with a sac fly by Jeff Pawlik.
But no more runs were to be scored over the final four innings by either team. Grace had runners in scoring position in the sixth and ninth innings but came up empty.
USF ended the game with a triple play, eliminating Grace's batter and two runners to snuff out a potential last-inning rally.
Caleb Farney and Zach Platt pitched the final five innings in relief, combining to allow no runs on four hits.
Rich hit 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI, and Chris Griffin walked twice and had one hit.
Steven Hernandez pitched game two and threw a complete game. He allowed just two runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts.
Grace's offense was largely muted in the narrow 2-1 defeat. The Lancers took the initial lead in the second thanks to a single by Slager and a double by Sam Newkirk.
The Cougars answered with a tying run in the bottom of the second, and the game remained deadlocked at 1-1 for the next two innings.
The Cougars took the lead for good in the fifth inning with a single run. The Lancers were retired 1-2-3 in each of the final three innings.
Slager doubled and had two hits, and Newkirk doubled with an RBI.
The Lancers and Cougars will square off again on Saturday for the second doubleheader. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
Original source can be found here.
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