by Geoff Roberts/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College baseball team was trying to recover from a doubleheader sweep less than 24 hours ago at the hands of the No. 10 Sinclair Tartan Pride, but fell short again today.
Game 1 Sinclair 5 Owens 1
Sinclair wasted no time getting on the board early against the Express and capitalized on some sloppy defensive play in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead out of the gate.
Sinclair added two more runs to the lead in the third inning and another in the sixth to carry a 5-0 lead into the seventh.
With last call coming for the Express, Zach Kazmierski (Whitmer/Toledo, Ohio) ripped a single into right field to give Owens some hope. Payton Scott (Mississinewa/Gas City, Ind.) kept the rally going with a one-out double that put Kazmierski on third and Scott on second.
With two men in scoring position, Chad Lupher (East Knox/Bladensburg, Ohio) hit a ground ball to the shortstop who flipped to first for the second out but it also allowed Kazmierski to score.
It was the Express' only run of the contest as they fell 5-1 to Sinclair, dropping the third of the four-game set on the weekend.
Michael Finch (Norwalk/Norwalk, Ohio) started and took the loss for the Express. He went four innings, gave up four runs but only one earned on four hits, three walks, and logged four strikeouts. Finch is now 0-2 on the year.
Nick Morrow (Fairfield/Fairfield, Ohio) started the fifth inning for the Express in relief and went the distance. Morrow finished with three innings, two hits, one run, four walks and a strikeout.
Bryan Murphy went all seven innings in the win for Sinclair, giving up only four hits, one run, two walks, and striking out two. His record improved to 4-0.
Game 2 Sinclair 14 Owens 11
The second game of the day was the last chance for Owens to get a win out of the weekend. The Express forced Sinclair to use five pitchers in the tilt but still fell short despite a six-run seventh inning.
Quentin Urban hit a leadoff home run for the Tartan Pride off of Express starter Derek Hafner (Central Catholic/Toledo, Ohio). The right-handed pitcher gave up two more runs before getting out of the inning.
Sinclair added four more in the second to take an early seven-run lead.
The Express plated their first run in the bottom of the third when Kazmierski nailed a double then advanced from second to home on two consecutive wild pitches.
Owens added two more runs in the inning after Tiger Jaso (Kansas Lakota/Kansas, Ohio) hit a single that was thrown away by the second baseman, Mark Carpenter, on an attempted relay to third base.
The Express added one run in each the third and fourth innings but Sinclair answered with six runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth to take a 14-5 lead into the bottom of the sixth.
Charlie Sipe (Northrop/Fort Wayne, Ind.) hit a single to centerfield and stole second to lead off the sixth inning. Despite the early offense, the Express went down 1-2-3 after that.
Things got extremely interesting in the bottom of the seventh.
Alex Samson (Orrville/Orrville, Ohio) reached on an error to start the inning and made it to second. He advanced on a wild pitch and Anderson Hasting walked three straight batters to bring Samson home.
Sipe followed up the walk with a two-RBI double, and Anthony Perez (Orrville/Orrville, Ohio) followed suit by hitting a two-RBI double of his own.
Kazmierski flied out in the next at bat, advancing Perez to third. Marcus Rozsa (All Saints Secondary/Whitby, Ontario) then stood in after replacing Lupher defensively in the top of the seventh. Rozsa laced a double to centerfield that plated Perez and put the Express within three runs but Josh Shea came in to shut the door and stop the rally there.
Hafner took the loss and fell to 0-5. He lasted two innings, giving up seven runs (six earned) on five hits with one walk and a strikeout.
Matthew Zitny (Oxford/Oxford, Mich.) pitched 2.1 innings, fiving up four runs (three earned) on two hits with two walks and a strikeout.
Dustin Osborne (Barberton/Barberton, Ohio) got through one-third of an inning while allowing two runs and one hit.
Joseph Slivik (Warren Mott/Warren, Mich.) pitched an inning, giving up one run on two hits and a strikeout.
Finally, Sam Hackney (Edgewood/Trenton, Ohio) rounded out the pitchers for the Express, going one and a third no-hit innings with zero runs, zero walks, and a strikeout.
Sipe was the top performer for the Express offensively, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI, a walk, and a stolen base.
Wrap Up
The Express are now 10-22 overall and 5-11 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play. They will be back in action on the road against St. Clair County Community College on Wednesday in a Region XII matchup.