By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, OH---In a long doubleheader, James Moore Jr.'s two-run double in the bottom half of the sixth inning of game two capped an Express comeback win and a doubleheader sweep of Adrian College's JV team Wednesday.
Game 1: Owens 14 Adrian College JV 7
Clayton Ruch, Austin Legate, Trevor Ozenbaugh and Michael Louis carried the Express offense to a 14-7 win in the first game.
Through the first one and a half innings, Adrian College had a 3-0 lead. The Express then cut the deficit to one with a two-run second. Moore and Logan Shullick walked to lead off the inning. Moore would later score on a sacrifice fly by Ozenbaugh, while Shullick scored on an RBI single by Austin Legate.
Adrian College would add a single run in the third inning to take a 4-2 lead, but the Express offense exploded for nine runs in the fifth inning to seize control of the game. Louis highlighted the inning with a leadoff double and a two-run home run as the Express sent 13 batters to the plate. All nine batters scored a run in the inning except Legate, who executed a sacrifice bunt.
In all, the Express had seven hits, two walks, and one hit batter in that fifth inning. Of those seven hits, four were of the extra base variety.
After their big inning, the Express allowed three runs in the top half of the sixth inning to trim their lead down to four. However, the Express answered right back with three more in the bottom half.
Shullick walked and advanced to third on an errant pick off throw before Ozenbaugh knocked him home with a single. Legate then singled to third to put runners on first and second. Ruch then doubled home Ozenbaugh before Nate Manis had a fielder's choice RBI groundout.
Dane Davis then retired Adrian in order in the seventh to end the game. Alex Juday (1-1) started for the Express and went the first five innings to pick up his first win as a member of the Express. He allowed five hits, four runs and two walks while striking out five.
Aaron Peoples allowed the three runs in the sixth inning, but all three were unearned. He struck out three in the inning.
Ruch finished 3-for-4 with three doubles, three RBIs, and one run, Ozenbaugh was 2-for-3 with two runs and four RBIs, Louis was 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs, and Legate was 3-for-3 with a run and an RBI.
Those four players combined to hit 10-for-15 with six runs and 10 RBIs.
Game 2: Owens 5 Adrian College JV 3
Trailing 3-1 entering the bottom half of the sixth inning, the Express scored four runs to steal a victory from Adrian College.
Adrian took a 3-0 lead in the top half of the third when the first four runners reached off Express starter Adam Jones. Jesse Castilleja relieved him at that point and got a lineout to center, a groundout to first and a strikeout looking to control the damage.
Travis Tackett then led off the bottom half with a walk. Manis came in as a courtesy runner and stole second and third before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Horvath to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Neither team then scored until the four run sixth for the Express. In fact, only two runners combined for both teams reached in the fourth and fifth innings.
In the sixth, Horvath placed a perfect bunt single down the third base line before Louis did the same thing, but to the right side of the infield. Myles Debol then walked to load the bases. Manis then pinch hit for Ryan Hotmer and lined an opposite field RBI single to left to make it 3-2.
Following Manis, Moore came up and did the same thing, but hit it up the gap for a two-run double that put the Express up 4-3. Tackett would later add a sacrifice fly to make close the scoring for the inning.
Daniel Heatherly allowed a single in the seventh, but struck out the other three batters to pick up his second save.
The final line for Jones included two innings, two hits, three runs, three walks and five strikeouts. Castilleja's line included two innings, zero hits and walks, and four strikeouts. Jeff Davis pitched the fifth and sixth innings to pick up the win. He allowed one hit and one walk while striking out two.
Moore finished 1-for-3 with a run and two RBIs, while Louis was 2-for-3 with a run. Horvath added a 1-for-2, one run and one RBI performance.
Notes
Express pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts of Adrian hitters in the second game. Additionally, they struck out 10 in the first game as 24 of the day's 42 Adrian College outs came via strikeout.
The Express will continue OCCAC play this weekend at home against Cuyahoga Community College. The two teams will play at 1 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
After starting the season 5-18, the Express have now won six in a row. They swept the season series from Adrian College after sweeping a doubleheader from them on March 21.