Rockford, Mich. — The magic number was 12. The Aquinas baseball team split a conference doubleheader against Cleary on Tuesday afternoon (Apr. 11) at the Meijer Sports Complex with the Saints winning Game 1, 12-1, before losing the rematch 12-10 to the Cougars in Rockford, Mich.
Aquinas moved to 17-16 overall (7-7 WHAC) with the split and had a four-game winning streak snapped in the nightcap. Cleary (20-15, 9-8 WHAC) also had a four-game winning streak end in the first game.
Game 1: Aquinas 12, Cleary 1 (7 Innings)
The Saints jumped on the Cougars and didn't let up. AQ racked up 17 hits in seven inning and held a 12-0 lead before losing the shutout in the top of the seventh.
Nine runs came in the first two innings with
Mark Binkowski,
Grant Martin and
JD Gillies picking up RBI hits in the opening frame. The Saints then hit for the cycle as a team in the second inning.
Dane Smitz,
Nathan Wilcox,
Chase Ingersoll and Gillies each had singles. Binkowski provided a double.
Dawson Shearer sprinted around for a triple. And
Jake Paganelli blasted a two-run home run to center field.
Paganelli added another run with an RBI groundout in the third inning, 10-0. He finished with a team-high three RBIs.
Aidan Schmuckal got AQ to 12 runs in the sixth off an RBI fielder's choice and ensuing throwing error that allowed
Nicolas Verdugo to score. Cleary was hindered by four errors in the game.
A two-out RBI single by Sam Browne broke up the Saints' shutout bid in the seventh. The Cougars finished with one run on six hits.
AQ starting pitcher
Tyler Zomerlei improved to 4-3 overall on the season after going 5.0 innings, allowing four hits and no runs.
Binkowski and Gillies each had three hits. Smitz, Martin and
Luke Lacross provided two hits. The 17 hits as a team tied a season-high.
Game 2: Cleary 12, Aquinas 10
The Cougars matched the Saints' high-powered offense in Game 2. After Aquinas took a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a Martin RBI sacrifice fly, Cleary scored one run in the second, two in the third and three in the fourth to build a 6-1 advantage.
Billy Flohr provided four of the runs with a two-run home run in the third inning and a two-run scoring single back up the middle in the fourth inning.
Aquinas fought back with two runs in the bottom half and a five-spot in the fifth inning to take a 8-6 lead. Martin had the most memorable hit with a towering three-run home run off the batter's eye in center field to tie the score at 6-6.
The Saints' lead was short-lived as the Cougars scored four runs in the top of the sixth to restore a two-run cushion at 10-8. After a pair of RBI singles tied the game, Cleary scored two more runs with the bases loaded off a hit by pitch and a walk. That was followed by an RBI sacrifice fly in the seventh to expand the lead to 11-8.
Binkowski doubled back up the middle to cut the deficit down to one, 11-10, in the bottom half to finish 3-for-5 on the day with two RBIs. But, it wasn't enough, as the Cougars turned to their closer Colin Brazil, who picked up a seven out save. Kristian Scalf added an RBI double in the eighth for some extra insurance, 12-10.
Despite all the scoring, both teams stranded double-digit runners on base (Cleary 11, Aquinas 10). Joining Binkowski with multiple hits for the Saints were Smitz (2-4, 2 RBIs), Paganelli (2-3) and Ingersoll (2-5).
The Saints have a quick turnaround with a makeup doubleheader against UM-Dearborn on Wednesday (Apr. 12) at the Meijer Sports Complex. AQ won a pair of one-run games (3-2 and 7-6) against the Wolverines earlier this season on Apr. 2. First pitch on Wednesday is set for 2 p.m.
