The Aquinas baseball team played a pair of non-conference games in Marion, Ind. on Tuesday afternoon (Mar. 23), earning a split with a game two victory. AQ dropped an 11-3 final to Indiana Wesleyan on the Wildcats' home field before bouncing back to knock off Marian 4-3 in the nightcap.
 
The split result on Tuesday puts Aquinas at 13-9 on the season. AQ returns to Indiana on Wednesday (Mar. 24) at 3:00 p.m. for a single nine-inning game against Bethel.
 
In game one, the 22-8 Wildcats scored the game's first eight runs before Aquinas put a run across on a throwing error. It was an 11-1 IWU lead in the fifth inning, when 
Nathan Hughes delivered a two-run homer to left field to score 
Dane Smitz for the final runs of the game. The roundtripper was the team-leading fifth homer of the year for Hughes.
 
Conor Gausselin and 
Bruce Buurstra each pitched three innings in the loss. IWU outhit the Saints, 12-4.
 
All the game two runs between Aquinas and Marian came on four extra base hits. Smitz smashed a solo homer to right field in the bottom of the first for the 1-0 lead. It was the first dinger of the freshman's career at AQ.
 
The game stayed 1-0 until Marian hit a three-run homer in the top of the fifth inning, but Aquinas responded with three runs in the home half. 
Lucas Weinert made it 3-2 with an RBI double to left center to score pinch runner 
Lorenzo Cupri. 
 
Three batters later, 
Alec Lockwood hit his fourth home run of the season, a two-run blast to left field to put the Saints in front 4-3. 
Nathan Myers (sixth inning) and 
Richard Steffan (seventh) worked hitless innings and each struck out two batters in those frames to preserve the victory. Myers (1-0) earned the win, while Steffan picked up his first save.
 
Starter 
Tyler Zomerlei tossed four solid innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out three. 
Five of AQ's seven hits went for extra bases. 
Ryan Gillings was the lone Saint with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with a double. Weinert and 
Brady Paganelli also doubled, while Smitz and Lockwood hit big flies.
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