By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Cleveland, Ohio---The Owens Community College baseball team split a pair of road conference games at Lakeland Community College today.
Game 1: Lakeland 6 Owens 5
The Express let a 4-1 fifth inning lead slip away due to sloppy defense in today's first game loss.
In the second, Michael Finch (Norwalk/Norwalk, Ohio) produced a fielder's choice RBI grounder to plate the game's first run. Anthony Perez (Orrville/Orrville, Ohio), who was on third, scored on the throw later in the inning when Finch stole second.
After the Lakers got a sacrifice fly in the home half of the fourth, the Express tacked on two more in the fith to take a three run lead. Charlie Sipe (Northrop/Fort Wayne, Ind.) had an RBI double to left and Zach Kazmierski (Whitmer/Toledo, Ohio) had an RBI single to center to produce those runs.
In the bottom half, however, a two-out throwing error led to two of the Lakers three runs in the inning that tied the game.
Tiger Jaso (Lakota/Kansas, Ohio) put the Express back up in the next half on an RBI single through the left side. The lead wouldn't last long, though, as the Lakers added a run in the bottom half on an Express throwing error.
Despite a two-out walk from Kazmierski, the Express were held scoreless to begin the seventh. Then, in the bottom half, Anthony Paone's RBI single to left scored Wayne Naida to give the Lakers the 6-5 win.
Blake Kuszmaul (Bryan/Bryan, Ohio) started and took the no decision for the Express. He went 4.2 innings and allowed seven hits, four runs (one earned) and zero walks while striking out four. Dru Sebastian (Blackhawk Christian/Fort Wayne, Ohio) took the loss (4-5) in relief. He allowed three hits, two runs (one earned) and one walk while striking out three over 1.2 innings.
Meanwhile, Scott Wood (1-4) got the win in relief for the Lakers. He allowed just one hit and one walk, along with notching one strikeout, over the final 1.2 innings. Michael Bear went the first 5.1 innings.
The Express offense was led in game one by Jaso, who finished 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
Game 2: Owens 11 Lakeland 3 (Six Innings, Darkness)
Jaso picked up two more hits to lead a 10 hit attack in an 11-3 win for the Express in the second game, which was called due to darkness after six innings.
The Express took a 2-0 lead in the top half of the third before the Lakers answered back for three in the home half. That's when the Express scored nine runs over the next two innings to break the game open.
Sipe (bases loaded walk) and Perez (sacrifice fly) produced the two third inning runs for the Express, while three RBI singles off Express starter Kyle Bennett (Grove City/Grove City, Ohio) plated three runs in the bottom half for the Lakers. Bennett struck out the final two batters of the inning to prevent further damage.
In the fourth, Jaso was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Alec Skender (Metamora/Metamora, Ill.) had a sacrifice fly to right field and Sipe had a two-run single to center to put the Express up 6-3.
In the home half, Bennett allowed a one out double, but struck out the next two batters to set up a five run fifth for his teammates.
Tyler Byerly (Washington Township/Crown Point, Ind.) got things started with a run producing grounder that resulted in an error before Skender's two-run single to center and Sipe's two-run double to center rounded out the inning's scoring.
Bennett struck out three more over the next two innings before the game was called after six.
Jaso finished 2-for-3 with three runs and one RBI, while Skender was 1-for-2 with two runs, a walk and three RBIs. Other players to pick up multiple hits were Sipe (2-for-2, two walks, five RBIs), Finch (2-for-3, two runs) and Chad Lupher (East Knox/Bladensburg, Ohio), who was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run).
Bennett went the distance for the Express while improving to 6-1. He allowed eight hits, three runs and zero walks, while striking out a seson-high nine batters.
Steve Dorsey (3-5) took the loss for Lakeland after allowing three hits, six runs and six walks over four innings. Derek Rose and Tanner Smith each pitched an inning in relief.
Notes
The Express are now 18-24 overall and 9-13 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play, while the Lakers are 12-29 overall and 7-15 in OCCAC play. With a solid performance tomorrow, the Express can clinch a second place finish in the conference heading into postseason play.
Sipe's batting average continues to rise in his freshman campaign. He is now hitting a team-high .372 with a team-high 26 RBIs. He also leads the team in hits (42), triples (3), walks (18) and stolen bases (11).
Lupher is now hitting .350 in 40 at bats this year, while Jaso (.330), Finch (.307) and Marcus Rozsa (All Saints Secondary/Whitby, Ontario, Canada) (.302) are all hitting over .300. All five players are freshmen.
Both the Express and the Lakers will play twice more tomorrow at 1 p.m.