The Aquinas baseball team extended its winning streak to four straight games on Tuesday afternoon (Mar. 2) in Grand Park, Ind., as the Saints scored six times in their last four at-bats against IU-Kokomo for a 6-4 victory. AQ faced deficits of 2-0 and 4-3 before tallying the final three runs, including a go-ahead two-run double from
Brady Paganelli.
Over the weekend, the Saints took three of four games from Saint Xavier (Ill.), including a one-run and a two-run victory. They closed out another tight game on Tuesday to move to 4-1 on the season, while IU-Kokomo drops to 4-4 overall.
The Cougars were on top 2-0 in the sixth, when Aquinas scored three times to take its first lead. A wild pitch and an error helped tied the game at 2-2 before
Mark Binkowski brought in Joe Kelley with an RBI single for the 3-2 edge.
IU-Kokomo responded with two runs in the home half of the sixth, regaining the 4-3 lead on a run-scoring single and a passed ball. It was still 4-3 when Paganelli delivered the game's biggest hit, a two-run two-bagger to score Kelley (who walked) and
Lucas Weinert (reached on an error).
An
Alec Lockwood RBI single in the ninth made it 6-4 in favor of the Saints.
Travis Keys was on the hill for AQ at that point and struck out six of the seven batters he faced in the eighth and ninth to seal the victory for Aquinas.
Starter
Michael Casterline pitched well in five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits, while striking out six.
Colin Smith gave up two hits in 1.1 scoreless innings and struck out three before giving way to Keys in the final two frames.
Paganelli finished 3-for-3 with two RBI. Lockwood went 2-for-4, Kelley scored twice, and
Dane Smitz was 1-for-2 with two walks. Binkowski delivered the RBI single in his lone at-bat.
Michael Maher also walked twice for AQ, which recorded a 9-8 edge in hits.
The Saints are off until the weekend (Mar. 6-7), when they travel back to Logansport, Ind. to face Lawrence Tech in a four-game, non-conference series. First pitch on Saturday is at 1:00 p.m.
