By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Dayton, Ohio---The Owens Community College baseball team dropped a pair of conference games to Sinclair Community College at Wright State University today.
Game 1: Sinclair 5 Owens 4
The Express rallied with four runs in the fifth inning, but it wasn't enough in the team's fourth one run defeat of the season.
The Tartan Pride score single runs in the first and second innings to jump out to an early lead. The would added two more in the fourth on an RBI triple by Connor Combs and an RBI single by Mitch Roman.
The Express got their fifth inning rally going with an Alec Skender (Metamora/Metamora, Ill.) bases loaded walk. Zach Kazmierski (Whitmer/Toledo, Ohio) followed with a two-run double before Taran Temple (Delta/Muncie, Ind.) closed the rally with an RBI groundout to first.
All tied at four, the Tartan Pride got a two-out RBI single by Alex Young in the bottom half of the fifth to take a 5-4 lead.
The pitching duo of Josh Shea and Nathan Helke retired the final six Express batters. Helke picked up his seventh save of the season.
Nobody for the Express had more than one hit, while the team tallied just three hits off Sinclair pitching. Bryan Murphy, who went the first five innings, picked up the win after allowing three hits, four runs (two earned) and four walks.
Jared Terrill (Shrine Catholic/Huntington Woods, Mich.) started for the Express. He went the first two innings and allowed one hit, two runs and five walks while striking out one. Dru Sebastian (Blackhawk Christian/Fort Wayne, Ind.) went the rest of the way and took the loss. He allowed seven hits, three runs and zero walks while striking out four.
Game 2: Sinclair 8 Owens 1
Eight unanswered runs spelled trouble in today's second game as Sinclair completed the sweep.
The Express got a one-out sacrifice fly from Temple to take a 1-0 lead through one.
However, Sinclair got three in the second, two in the fifth and three more in the sixth to win the game.
Similar to the first game, the Express were limited to three hits as a team. Quentin Urban (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBIs) led the Sinclair offense.
Blake Kuszmaul (Bryan/Bryan, Ohio) started and took the loss for the Express. He went 4.1 innings and allowed seven hits, five runs and two walks while striking out four.
Nick Morrow (Fairfield/Fairfield, Ohio) went the rest of the way and allowed five hits, three runs and one walk with one strikeout.
Pat McGuff (2-0) picked up the win for Sinclair, while Drew Murry and Helke retired the final six Express batters.
Wrap Up
The Express fall to 4-10 overall and 1-3 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play with the losses, while Sinclair improves to 15-7 overall and 3-1 in OCCAC play.
The Express will return home to host St. Clair County Community College at 2 p.m. tomorrow.