Fort Wayne, Ind. – The Saints began their four-game series against Indiana Tech on the road today (Apr. 20). A strong pitching performance from the Warriors allowed Indiana Tech to take game one, but the Saints got the bats going in game two for a day one split.
Mason Hill made his 18th appearance in relief in the sixth inning of game two, striking out three batters over two innings and allowing no runs. He has an ERA of 0.80 this season. Allowing just three earned runs over 33.2 innings pitched with 42 strikeouts. Not only that, but he made his 64th career appearance in this game, giving him the most appearances of any pitcher in the historic history of Aquinas College baseball.
Another doubleheader split keeps the Saints at .500 this season and moves their WHAC record to 13-11.
Game 1: Indiana Tech 7, Aquinas 1 (7 Innings)
A couple of walks, an error, and a
Nathan Wilcox single in the top of the second put AQ on the board first, but that was the only lapse by Indiana Tech in an otherwise flawless performance. The Warriors held Aquinas to just one other hit throughout the remainder of the game, which was another Wilcox single in the top of the fifth.
The Warriors took the lead in the bottom of the third after a walk, a double, and a home run put the hosts ahead. IT would score again in the fifth and the sixth innings to score a total of seven runs.
Game 2: Aquinas 11, Indiana Tech 3
Tech took the lead again with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the second, but Aquinas responded in the top of the third.
Luke LaCross and
Ramsey Bousseau walked before
Grant Martin hit them both in with a double to take the lead. The Saints then doubled their score in the top of the fourth after an error, a pair of singles, and a sacrifice fly allowed AQ to bring in two more runs.
The game settled down until the bottom of the sixth when the Warriors got Aquinas into an early jam. A leadoff walk followed by a double had two runners in scoring position with no outs. Hill got the call from the bullpen and mitigated the damage. He struck out one, forced a flyout, and struck out another as Indiana Tech only managed to score one run.
Aquinas blew the game open in the top of the seventh, scoring four runs to take an 8-2 lead. RBIs from
Drew Mitchell (1),
JD Gillies (2), and Wilcox (1) brought in the runs. The Saints rolled that offense into the eighth inning as hits from
Nicolas Verdugo,
Chase Ingersoll, and Gillies helped drive in three more runs for a commanding 11-2 advantage.
Indiana Tech scored one run in the eighth, but it was ultimately just a consolation run. After a scoreless ninth inning, Aquinas took home a massive 11-3 win.
By the Numbers
Despite being outhit (15-12), the Saints outscored the Warriors across both games (12-10). AQ also had far more strikeouts (19-11) and stolen bases (5-0).
Wilcox led the team with four hits, a double, a pair of RBIs, and a stolen base. Gillies hit home four runs with three hits and Ingersoll was the final player to record multiple hits with two.
Up Next
The Saints have another set of games to play against Indiana Tech tomorrow (Apr. 21) to complete the four-game series. The doubleheader is set to kick off at 1:00 p.m.
