Rockford, Mich. — The Aquinas baseball team picked up its fifth straight win with a doubleheader sweep of Grace Christian on Monday (Apr. 3) at the Meijer Sports Complex in Rockford, Mich. The Saints (13-14 overall) won the non-conference affairs by scores of 7-6 and 11-1 over the Tigers (2-22).
Both games were scheduled to be seven innings, but the nightcap was shortened to five innings due to rain.
Game 1: Aquinas 7, Grace Christian 6 (7 Innings)
The Tigers, who didn't score in a 4-0 loss to the Saints last Thursday (Mar. 30) in the first meeting between these two teams this season, took a surprising early lead against AQ in the first inning of Game 1 on Monday.
Carter Willis and Tyler Thomas each delivered RBI hits against Aquinas starter
Grant Martin, who promptly got the Saints on the scoreboard with a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the first. Then, on the very next pitch, teammate
Nathan Wilcox smacked another home run over the left field fence to tie the game at 2-2.
That didn't discourage Grace Christian from putting together a three-run second inning to displace Martin off the mound. Another Tigers' run off a wild pitch in the top of the fourth had the visitors up 6-2.
Aquinas went deep again to left field in the bottom half with a two-run shot by
Chase Ingersoll to cut the deficit in half.
Dawson Shearer then doubled and scored from second base on a deep RBI sacrifice fly to center field by
Joseph Kelley.
The fifth and sixth innings went by without either team scoring despite a combined six runners being left on base. AQ got a 1-2-3 inning out of
Evan Douglass in the top of the seventh to collect themselves for a comeback in the bottom half.
Down to their final two outs, the Saints got on base with a
JD Gillies single.
Owen Graves came in as a pinch runner and reached the other corner of the infield on a Grace Christian error in the infield, which also allowed Martin to reach first base.
Martin then stole second and, on the throw across the diamond, Graves ran home to even the score at 6-6. Following an intentional walk to Wilcox, Ingersoll ended the first game with a single down the left field line to score Martin.
The Saints poured out of the dugout to celebration, just like they did less than 24 hours ago on Sunday (Apr. 2) when they beat UM-Dearborn by the same score, 7-6, with a walk-off knock as well.
Douglass picked up the win (2-0) while Martin was saved from getting the loss with the Saints' seventh inning rally. The Tigers outhit AQ, 10-6, but couldn't hang on for their third win of the season.
Game 2: Aquinas 11, Grace Christian 1 (5 Innings - Rain)
As soon as the first game finished, rain started to sprinkle across the diamond. It remained rather light for the first three innings, before getting heavy enough that the rematch had to be called off after five innings with the Saints up 11-1.
The Saints scored four runs in the third inning and six in the fourth to leave no doubt.
Tyler Zomerlei, Ingersoll,
Nicolas Verdugo,
Mark Binkowski,
Jake Paganelli and
Luke Lacross all picked up RBIs in the rout.
Aquinas scored 11 runs on just six hits. With the bases loaded, AQ ended up scoring two runs on wild pitches, two runs on hit by pitches and one run on a walk throughout the game.
The Tigers scored their lone run on a bases loaded walk in the top of the fifth inning. AQ held Grace Christian to two hits. Saints starter
Ethan Pequette pitched the first two innings and struck out five out of the six batters he faced.
Kyle Teachworth pitched the third inning and got the win (1-0),
Nathan Esch followed in the fourth and Graves closed out the game in the fifth.
AQ stole five bases in the win and could have scored even more than 11 runs, considering the Saints left 10 runners on bases across the five innings.
Next up, Aquinas looks to get back to the .500 mark after a pair of conference games at No. 22-ranked Indiana Tech on Friday (Apr. 7). The Saints split the regular-season series against the Warriors last season with a 7-5 loss and a 5-2 win.
