Baseball Results: May 6
GRACE 13, MARIAN 0
Grace’s “Cinderella Men” are still dancing. The No. 8-seeded Lancers in the Crossroads League Tournament pounded Marian on Monday in the semifinals.
Grace will play for its first tournament championship on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Upland, against an opponent not yet determined. The Lancers, as the only undefeated team left in the bracket, would need to be beaten twice. If Grace were to lose on Tuesday, the Lancers would play again for the title in Upland on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Aaron Voirol was the hero on the mound Monday. The senior pitched the game of his career, throwing a two-hitter across the complete nine innings.
Voirol struck out 12 Knights and only walked one in a commanding performance.
Grace’s offense gave Voirol ample support to win the game. The Lancers (17-25) packed all 13 runs into three separate innings.
The scoring started in the second inning. Mitchell Enyart, Ethan Brooks and Jacob Sapp singled to load the bases. R.J. Snyder then doubled to bring in a pair, and David Anderson’s long fly ball allowed two more to score for a 4-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, Xavier Harris’s sacrifice fly allowed Wyatt Buzbee to race home to make the score 5-0.
The game was put out of reach with a dominant seventh inning. Mullett and Chris Griffin scored early in the inning with no outs, and Houston Haney soon after hit a two-run home run to put Grace ahead by nine.
Mullett put the exclamation mark on the game with two outs in the seventh. He parked a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for a grand slam, producing the final 13-0 scoreline.
Voirol and Grace’s defense had little trouble retiring the Knights (27-19) over the final three innings.
Mullett had a memorable day at the plate, going 2 for 2 with two runs and four RBIs, and Haney and Anderson were both 2 for 5 with a run and two RBIs.
Snyder drove in two and had two hits, Buzbee plated three times, and Sapp hit 3-for-4. Harris batted 2-for-3, Enyart was 2-for-6 with two runs scored, and Griffin was also 2-for-6 with an RBI and a run.
The Lancers are seeking their first league championship since 1984. Grace is also one win away from qualifying for the NAIA National Championships for the first time in program history.
NORTHWOOD 1, WAWASEE 0
Kyle Sellers scored a run in the bottom of the seventh, and NorthWood came out on top in another low-scoring Northern Lakes Conference affair with Wawasee Monday night.
Nate Newcomer had the game-winning RBI as Levi Brown couldn’t quite hold on after pitching six innings of five-hit, four-walk, shutout baseball for the Warriors. Jacob Krugman closed its out, giving up two walks with a strikeout.
Matt Dutkowski got the win striking out eight and walking one while surrendering just two hits in a complete-game shutout for Wood, which survived four errors in the win.
Tony Garcia and Logan Adkins recorded the only two hits for Wawasee.
Wawasee dips to 10-7 overall and 5-5 in the conference. The Warriors travel to Northridge Wednesday.
NorthWood improves to 12-5 overall and 7-3 in the NLC. The Panthers play Bethany Christian Tuesday.
Wawasee’s JV got the win in Monday’s game, meanwhile, 3-1.
Jacob Meek went the distance on the hill, allowing two hits with six strikeouts for one unearned run by Wood. He also went 1-for-2 at the plate with two runs and two walks.
Adam Beer went 1-for-2 with a walk for the Wawasee JV.
WARSAW 11, PLYMOUTH 5
The Warsaw Tigers fell behind early but clawed back and put the game away in a Northern Lakes Conference victory over Plymouth on Monday.
Plymouth opened the scoring with one run in the top of the second inning, but the Tigers responded right away with two in the bottom of the second. The Pilgrims would then put four runs on the board in the top of the third to go ahead, 5-2.
The Tigers again responded in the bottom of the third with a solo home run from Ian Glogovsky to make the game 5-3. Warsaw would then tie the game 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run home run courtesy of Liam Patton. They broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth, scoring six runs on hits from Glogovsky, Patton and Drake Graham.
Noah Burgh got the win for Warsaw. He went seven innings, allowing five runs on six hits, striking out four and walking one. Matt Shoemaker, Jacob Hutcherson, Aaron Greene and Josh Ehrlinger also all contributed a hit for the Tigers (7-11) who are in action Wednesday at home versus NorthWood. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.
The Warsaw JV defeated Plymouth 13-3 thanks to a strong start, meanwhile. The JV Tigers managed to score at least three runs in each inning.
Following a Lead-off run by the Rockies, the Tigers responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first off of a Patrick Zollinger double. The Warsaw JV tallied four runs in the fourth inning. Alonso Contreras and Tyler Kuhn all moved runners across the plate with RBIs in the inning.
Daylan Vermilyer was solid on the mound again as he surrendered three runs on four hits over four innings, striking out five and walking one.
The JV Tigers racked up 10 hits on the day. Sam Justice, Zollinger and Kuhn each collected multiple hits for the Warsaw JV.
ROCHESTER 5, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 2
Rochester scored three runs in the second, and Tippecanoe Valley couldn’t get on top in a Three Rivers Conference loss Monday evening.
Russ Paxton’s two-run homer to right gave the Vikings back two runs in the top of the fourth, but that’s all the closer they would ever get. Paxton and Layne Prater recorded two hits apiece, while Lucas Walters and Jakob Jones each added one each for Valley.
Valley slides to 7-5 and 3-2 in TRC play. The Vikings travel to Peru Wednesday.