By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College baseball team dropped a pair of games against Lansing Community College at home today as the pitching staff gave up 18 total walks.
In the first game, Owens took a 4-1 lead to the seventh inning before Lansing scored eight runs in the seventh.
Charlie Sipe (Northrop/Fort Wayne, Ind.) went 3-for-3 with three doubles and two runs, and Benjamin Breymier (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) went 2-for-3 with a run. Marcus Rozsa (All Saints Secondary/Whitby, Ontario, Canada) added two RBI on a sacrifice fly and a groundout as Owens used several pitchers in preparation for this weekend's conference opener against Sinclair Community College.
Kyle Bennett (Grove City/Grove City, Ohio) started on the mound for Owens and allowed just one hit and one unearned run, while striking out three over the first three innings. Grant Peters (Eastwood/Pemberville, Ohio) followed him by throwing the next two innings. He allowed four hits and a walk, but struck out one and got some nice defensive plays behind him.
Ardry Mercado (St. Raymond HS for Boys/Manhattan, N.Y.) threw a scoreless sixth before walking three of the first four batters in the seventh. Jake Schmeltz (Eastwood/Perrysburg, Ohio) relieved him, but allowed five walks and a bloop single as Lansing's offense took control of the game.
With the loss, Schmeltz fell to 0-1 this year.
In the second game, Luke Whelpton (Vauxhall/Brandon, Manitoba, Canada) got the mound first, and he immediately fell victim to some unfortunate defensive plays that led to six runs (two earned) as Lansing completed a two inning stretch of 14 runs including the final inning of the first game.
In the bottom half, Breymier produced a run scoring groundout, and Rozsa followed with a sacrifice fly as Owens cut its deficit to four.
In the second, though, Lansing scored another unearned run off reliever Blake Kuszmaul (Bryan/Bryan, Ohio) to curb some of the Owens momentum.
Rozsa's RBI single in the fifth nearly helped Owens get back in the game, but his teammates stranded a pair of runners in scoring position as Lansing held a 7-3 lead through five.
The floodgates then opened in the sixth as Lansing plated eight runs (four earned) off relievers Tyler Huth (Northrop/Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Logan Snyder (Bedford/Lambertville, Mich.).
The Owens offense went down 1-2-3 to end the game.
Whelpton (1-1) took the loss. He allowed four hits and one walk while striking out one in his one inning. Four of the six runs he allowed were unearned. Kuszmaul was solid in his two innings, allowing just one hit, two walks and an unearned run while striking out two. Huth was responsible for seven runs (three earned), along with three walks and two hits in 2.1 innings. Snyder allowed one unearned run and two walks in two-thirds of an inning.
Casey Gose (Genoa/Genoa, OH) and Jake Norbut (Grove City/Grove City, Ohio) led the Owens offense with two hits apiece. Gose finished 2-for-3 with two runs and a stolen base, and Norbut was 2-for-3 with a stolen base. Rozsa had a team-high two RBI.
With the losses, Owens falls to 6-4 overall this year. They will travel to Dayton, Ohio this weekend for a four-game weekend series against No. 16 Sinclair Community College. It will mark the opening of conference play for both teams.
Notes
Gose, who played both middle infield positions today, raised his batting average to .457 today. He leads the team in runs scored (13) and hits (16). He is second on the team in batting average behind Norbut (.526).
With his three doubles in today's first game, Sipe now leads the team with four. Breymier leads the team in RBI with 11, while Gose (9) isn't far behind.
Owens previously defeated Lansing 19-5 in an earlier season matchup. Whelpton got the win on the mound in the game, so today meant a little revenge for Lansing.