The Aquinas baseball team won a thrilling non-conference battle of the beltline over Cornerstone on Thursday (Mar. 17) at De Witt Field. The Saints brought home the 12-10 win in 10 innings after Braden Nawrocki knocked in the two runs on a triple down the right field line in Grand Rapids, Michigan. AQ improves to 9-15 on the season, while CU drops to 8-11.
The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning, but the Saints roared back to score seven unanswered runs. In the second inning, AQ cut the deficit in half as Braden Brown walked and JD Gillies singled with one out to put runners on first and third. Kelvin Aracena was able to beat out a potential inning ending double play and gained an RBI as Brown was able to score.
The third inning is where the Saints exploded for six more runs. Dane Smitz brought in Mark Binkowski on a double down the left field line to tie the game up at two. After Nathan Hughes singled to put runners on first and second, Braden Nawrocki laid down a sacrifice bunt to move over the runners. However, an error by Cornerstone allowed Nawrocki to reach with Smitz scoring on the play. Cameron Greener lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Hughes and Brown reached on a fielder's choice that allowed Nawrocki to cross the plate for the next two runs. Back-to-back singles by Gillies and Aracena plated Greener, while Ryan Gillings brought in the final run on another sacrifice fly.
Tyler Zomerlei started on the hill for the Saints and hurled four innings, while allowing two runs on six hits and a walk with two strikeouts. CU got two runs back in the fifth inning to make the score 7-4 before AQ extended the lead back out to four in the sixth on an RBI single by Nawrocki.
The Golden Eagles got back within one in the sixth inning after scoring three more runs to make the score 8-7. Owen Graves came in from the bullpen in the fifth and pitched one and two-thirds innings, giving up five runs on five hits and two walks. Riki Yokoyama came in to get the last out in the sixth and then pitched the seventh inning. Cornerstone was able to tie the game up in the seventh at 8-8 on two hits and a walk.
Aquinas quickly came back to recapture the lead in a big way in the eighth inning. After Smitz singled with one out, Hughes launched his third home run of the year over the right field fence. These two have been doing damage all season as Smitz leads the team with a .459 batting average and Hughes has hit 14 of his 30 total hits for extra bases to go along with 22 RBI.
Two runs by the Golden Eagles in the eighth inning proved to be enough to force extra innings with the game tied up at 10. The 10th inning was a productive one for the Saints. Jake Paganelli opened the inning with a single as Lorenzo Cupri came to pinch run. Binkowski then laid down a sacrifice bunt that allowed Cupri to move up to second with one out. Hughes was able to beat out a two-out infield single to put runners on first and third as Kyle Teachworth came in as another pinch runner. With two outs, Nawrocki laced a triple down the right field line that brought in both runners and eventually gave the Saints the two-run win.
Grant Martin improved his record to 1-1 after throwing three innings and allowing only two runs (one earned) on a hit and two walks, while striking out eight of the nine outs needed.
Hughes and Gillies both had three hits in the contest with Smitz, Nawrocki, and Binkowski also collecting multi-hit games. Nawrocki had three big RBI with Hughes and Aracena knocking in two apiece.
Aquinas' home opener has been moved from Saturday to Sunday due to potential weather. Also being the WHAC opener, the Saints will host Lourdes back at De Witt Field on Cornerstone's campus on Sunday (Mar. 20) with the doubleheader beginning at 1:00 PM.
