By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College baseball team got a walk-off win in today's first game, and then gave up two runs in the seventh inning of the second game to split a doubleheader against Lakeland Community College at home today.
Game 1: Owens 6 Lakeland 5
Benjamin Breymier (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) singled to score Casey Gose (Genoa/Genoa, Ohio) in the seventh inning after Lakeland rallied in the top half of the inning to tie the game.
Owens controlled most of the game until the final inning. Marcus Rozsa (All Saints Secondary/Whitby, Ontario, Canada) produced a sacrifice fly and Zach Coffield (Eastwood/Bowling Green, Ohio) scored via an error to give Owens an early 2-0 lead in the first.
In the second, Gose reached on an error, but got himself in a pickle between first and second to allow Stephen Parker (Eisenhower/Shelby Township, Mich.) to scamper home from third for a 3-0 lead.
A two-run home run by Charlie Sipe (Northrop/Fort Wayne, Ind.) in the third pushed the lead to 5-0 before Lakeland got a run back in the fourth off Owens starter Robbie Bekier (Cardinal Stritch/Toledo, Ohio).
Neither team scored following that until the seventh. That's when Lakeland rallied with four runs off the combination of Bekier and Grant Peters (Eastwood/Pemberville, Ohio). Bekier got the first two batters of the inning to ground back to the mound, but then allowed a double, a single and a triple before getting chased. Peters allowed two singles, a walk and a hit batter before getting out of the jam.
In the home half, Parker singled to right followed by a bunt single by Gose to put the first two runners on. After a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by Coffield in which Parker was thrown out at third and a fielder's choice groundout by Sipe, Breymier swatted a walk-off RBI hit to right field for the victory.
Tyler Byerly (Washington Township/Crown Point, Ind.) led Owens at the plate with a 2-for-3 performance, while Sipe finished 1-for-3 with two runs, a walk and two RBI.
Peters (1-0) picked up the win in relief. He allowed two hits, one run and one walk in one-third of an inning. Bekier's final line included seven hits, four runs, five walks and three strikeouts over 6.2 innings.
Dominic Edwards went the distance for Lakeland to pick up the loss. He fell to 1-2 on the year after allowing seven hits, six runs (five earned) and three walks with two strikeouts over 6.2 innings.
Game 2: Lakeland 3 Owens 1
A pitching duel between Lakeland's Tyler Straley and Kyle Bennett (Grove City/Grove City, Ohio) of Owens ended in a tough luck loss for Owens.
The visitors got on the board first with a run in the third via a sacrifice fly from Anthony Strnad. Then, in the fifth, Owens got a one-out double off the right field wall by Justin Curry (Anthony Wayne/Perrysburg, Ohio), who later scored on a two-out RBI single by Byerly to center.
In a 1-1 game, Lakeland produced two runs (one earned) off Bennett in the seventh to pick up the win. Five runners reached in the inning off Bennett, but only one came via a hit.
Curry singled to lead off the bottom half of the inning, but nothing came of it.
Straley (3-1) picked up the complete game win. His final line included five hits, one run, four walks and five strikeouts. On the other side, Bennett (1-3) allowed five hits, three runs (two earned) and two walks while striking out seven over seven innings.
Curry finished 2-for-3 with a run to lead the Owens offense, while Gose, Byerly and Breymier each also picked up a hit apiece.
Notes
Owens (8-10, 1-5 OCCAC) and Lakeland (9-13, 2-4 OCCAC) will square off once again in an Easter Sunday doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Owens.
Lakeland turned a triple play in the first inning of game two. With runners on first and second, Owens had both runners take off. Sipe roped a line drive out to Lakeland's first baseman, who stepped on first and threw to second to complete the triple play.
Former Owens head baseball coach Bob Schultz was in attendance during game one.