Toledo, OH --- The Owens Express and Sinclair Tartan Pride baseball teams tried to play "Beat the Clock" with the weather on Saturday afternoon at Express Field, but the weather came out on top. The teams resumed the doubleheader today, and Sinclair came out on top in both games.
Saturday's scheduled doubleheader was moved up four-hours to get ahead of the rain showers predicted for the Toledo area, but in the bottom of the 5th inning of Game 1 the rains came down hard forcing the suspension of the game.
Game 1: Sinclair 6 Owens 2
Neither team cracked the scoring column until the 3rd inning. The visiting Tartan Pride tallied twice in the top of the frame. Catcher Blake Hall doubled down the left field line. Nick McGill would come on to run for Hall and would score as shortstop Joe Ford reached on an error. Ford would be chased home on a triple to right field off the bat of first baseman Kyle VanderArk.
The Express would get a run back in the bottom of the third. Owens center fielder Justin Elder laced a one-out single to center and made it to second as the Tartan Pride couldn't handle to throw in from the outfield. Express first baseman Ryan Hotmer plated Elder with a sharp single to left.
Sinclair pushed their lead back to two in the top of the 4th inning. Third baseman Matt Sullivan reached on an infield error, one of four Owens miscues on a sloppy track. He would come around to score on a base-hit by center fielder Jonathan Lowe.
At this point, the game was suspended. When action resumed, each team was retired 1-2-3 in the sixth inning before Sinclair broke through with three runs in the top half of the seventh. Two of the runs were unearned.
Owens attempted to rally in the seventh, but fell short. Elder and Nate Manis had back-to-back singles leading off, with Elder advancing to third on the single by Manis. Following a steal of second by Manis, Daniel Heatherly hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Elder. Ryan Horvath would walk following Heatherly's at bat, but James Moore Jr. struck out to end the game.
Elder finished 2-for-3 with two runs, while Manis was 2-for-2 with two stolen bases.
Jordan Basinger pitched the first five innings on Saturday and took the loss. He allowed four hits, three runs (one earned) and zero walks while striking out two. Dane Davis threw both innings today and allowed three hits, three runs (one earned) and zero walks.
Game 2: Sinclair 8 Owens 5
Sinclair jumped out to an 8-1 lead through four and a half before an Owens rally fell short in an 8-5 loss.
Alex Juday, who started for the Express, was the victim of some sloppy defense behind him as he allowed six hits, five runs (two earned), and three walks while striking out one in 3.2 innings. He fell to 1-3 with the loss.
Jesse Castilleja relieved Juday and allowed four hits, three runs and one walk in 1.1 innings. Clayton Ruch then relieved Castilleja and pitched well. He allowed only one hit and one walk while striking out two in two scoreless innings.
Down 5-0, the Express put a run on the board in the fourth inning when Heatherly singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael Louis.
After Sinclair added three more in the fifth, the Express scored four runs over the final three innings.
A single by Austin Legate and back-to-back walks by Logan Shullick and Justin Elder loaded the bases in the fifth with no outs. A RBI single by Heatherly and a sacrifice fly by Hotmer then plated two runs.
In the sixth, Nick Collins doubled with one out and later scored on a wild pitch. Horvath singled with two outs in the seventh and scored on a double by Louis.
Heatherly finished 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, while Horvath was 2-for-4 with a run and a stolen base.
Notes
The Express (13-26, 6-10 OCCAC) will travel travel to Macomb Community College this Wednesday before taking on Jackson Community College this Thursday at home. Both nine inning games begin at 3 p.m.