The Aquinas baseball team split a nonconference doubleheader against IU-Kokomo on Wednesday (Mar. 16) in Kokomo, Indiana. The Saints dominated game one by winning 5-0 and the the Cougars stormed back to take game two 8-4. AQ now has a record of 8-15 on the season, while IUK sits at 13-8.
GAME 1: Aquinas 5, IU-Kokomo 0
The Saints were able to score five runs in two innings with the pitching staff posting a goose egg on the scoreboard for the win. In the third inning,
Nathan Hughes hit an RBI single to right field as
Chris Suriel Garcia scored.
Nathan Wilcox then skied a sacrifice fly to center field to bring around
Joseph Kelley to make the score 2-0.
Wilcox came through again in the fifth inning with a base knock through the left side of the infield to plate
Anthony Arnold (a pinch runner for Hughes).
Jake Paganelli brought in the final two runs on a single up the middle with
Cameron Greener and
Tyler Zomerlei scoring.
Zach Marshall started on the bump and tossed the first two innings, allowing a single hit and fanning three.
Hunter Morrison improved to 2-1 by throwing the next three innings and only surrendering a walk.
Mason Hill shut down the final two innings by giving up two hits and striking out two.
Hughes and Paganelli both had two hits in the game as Wilcox finished with two RBI.
GAME 2: IU-Kokomo 8, Aquinas 4
After the Cougars scored their first two runs of the day in the first inning, the Saints settled down and plated the next four to hold a 4-2 lead through four innings. In the second inning, AQ took advantage of an IUK error as
Mark Binkowski doubled to left field to bring in Arnold.
Dane Smitz then got on the board with a base hit to right center field to score Binkowski.
In the fourth, Arnold scored on a passed ball to take the lead and the Smitz hit a sacrifice fly to center field as Kelley scored on the play. The Cougars were able to get a run back in the inning to make the score 4-3 in favor of Aquinas.
Kyle Teachworth threw the first inning on the hill and allowed two runs on three hits with a strikeout.
Josh Avink tossed a scoreless second inning that included two strikeouts.
Nathan Esch pitch one and a third innings and gave up a single run.
Nathan Myers came in for one and two-thirds innings of scoreless baseball with two punch outs.
The Cougars broke through and scored five runs in the sixth inning to take the 8-4 lead.
Garrett Cheslek took the loss after only getting on out and allowing four runs on four hits.
Caden Gregory got the final two outs of the inning, both by way of a strikeout.
Paganelli added another two hits as Binkowski had the only extra base hit of the day and an RBI.
Aquinas will be back in action tomorrow (Mar. 17) with a single nonconference game at Cornerstone, with first pitch set for 4:00 PM.
