Rockford, Mich. — The Aquinas baseball team picked up two more wins on Saturday (Apr. 8) with a doubleheader sweep over the Rochester Warriors at the Meijer Sports Complex.
The Saints (16-15, 6-6 WHAC) came from behind to steal the first game by a narrow 2-1 margin before pouring on a season-high 15 runs in a shutout Game 2 victory. The Warriors dropped to 3-28 (1-17 WHAC) on the season.
With the two wins, AQ is now one of eight teams in the WHAC to not have a losing conference record. The Saints currently sit tied for seventh in the WHAC standings with rival Cornerstone.
Game 1: Aquinas 2, Rochester 1 (7 Innings)
The Warriors scored first in the first inning and didn't score again in the doubleheader. After AQ starting pitcher
Ethan Pequette struck out the first two batters, Lucas Bateman reached on a single to left field. He moved up to second on a balk before Pequette threw the ball into center field on a failed pickoff attempt that allowed Bateman to score.
Pequette locked in from that point on. He struck out eight batters and only allowed three more hits in six innings of work. The Saints positioned him to get the win with a run in the fourth and fifth innings.
Grant Martin tied the game with an RBI sacrifice fly to center field to score pinch runner Owens Graves in the fourth.
JD Gillies then drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth with a sharp single to left field to bring home
Luke Lacross.
Closer
Tyler Zomerlei pitched a fairly clean 12-pitch seventh inning, allowing just one walk, to pick up his second save of the season.
The Saints scored their two runs on just four hits.
Jake Paganelli, Gillies, Martin and Lacross picked up the knocks.
The first game lasted one hour and 45 minutes and helped Game 2 start at 3:03 p.m.
Game 2: Aquinas 15, Rochester 0 (7 Innings)
What was scheduled to be a nine-inning affair only lasted seven with the Saints racking up 15 runs on 10 hits and three Warrior errors. Aquinas scored four runs in both the first and third inning, six more in the fourth inning and a final run in the fifth.
All three of Rochester's errors came in the opening inning. A fielding error by the first baseman allowed
Dane Smitz to score first run. Then, with two runners on base (both reaching via errors), AQ shortstop
Mark Binkowski connected on a three-run home run to right field to give the Saints a 4-0 lead. It was Binkowski's first home run of the season and second of his collegiate career.
Zomerlei pitched three shutout innings for the Saints before AQ used a different pitcher in each of the last four innings:
Josh Avink (fourth),
Nathan Esch (fifth),
Kyle Teachworth (sixth) and
Caden Gregory (seventh).
None of them had to deal with a lot of stress because AQ's offense scored 10 runs across the third and fourth innings to build up a 14-0 cushion.
The third inning featured an RBI double by
Nathan Wilcox, followed by another three-run home. This one by
Chase Ingersoll to left center field. It was Ingersoll's second blast of the season after hitting his first five days ago against Grace Christian.
In the fourth inning, Binkowski drew a bases loaded walk before pinch hitter
Nicolas Verdugo cleared the bases with a triple on misplayed bouncing ball in left field. Shortly after Ingersoll and
Dawson Shearer tacked on RBI doubles for good measure.
Aquinas capped the scoring with another RBI double down the left field line by
Jayden Timmer to score it's 15th run — a new season high.
The Warriors came close to breaking the shutout in the seventh with a runner on third base, but Gregory stuck out Deyante Fossett to end the game.
The AQ pitching staff combined to throw a two-hitter with six strikeouts.
Eight different Saints collected a hit with Lacross and Ingersoll both going 2-for-2. Ingersoll lead the team with four RBIs. AQ was also hit by four pitches in the contest and only left five runners on base.
Next up, Aquinas looks to build on its three-game winning streak with another home doubleheader at the Meijer Sports Complex, as Cleary comes to town on Tuesday (Apr. 11). First pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.
