By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College baseball team completed a split of a four-game series yesterday in a Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) doubleheader against Lakeland Community College at home.
In the first game, Luke Whelpton (Vauxhall/Brandon, Manitoba, Canada) pitched well, but Owens fell 3-0. In the second game, Ardry Mercado (St. Raymond High School for Boys/Manhattan, N.Y.) pitched six strong innings to lead the team to a 10-2 victory.
Game 1: Lakeland 3 Owens 0
The Owens offense struggled against Lakeland's Scott Wood, who improved to 2-1 this year with a seven strikeout complete game.
For Owens, three players picked up one hit apiece including Tyler Byerly (Washington Township/Crown Point, Ind.), Charlie Sipe (Northrop/Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Zach Coffield (Eastwood/Bowling Green, Ohio).
Whelpton went the distance to pick up the unfortunate loss. All three of his runs allowed came in the fourth inning, and he finished by allowing seven hits and four walks while striking out seven.
Game 2: Owens 10 Lakeland 2
The Owens offense opened up a 7-1 lead through three innings before cruising to a 10-2 victory in yesterday's second game.
In the first, Casey Gose (Genoa/Genoa, Ohio) doubled and scored on another double by Sipe, who then later scored on an error for a two-run lead.
In the second, Nolan Rao (Whitmer/Toledo, Ohio) produced an RBI single for a 3-0 lead. After Mercado allowed a single run in the top half of the fourth, Owens plated four more in the third.
The rally started with Stephen Parker's (Eisenhower/Shelby Township, Mich.) RBI single. Later, Gose was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Byerly also walked with the bases loaded. The inning's scoring concluded with an RBI groundout by Sipe.
In the fifth, Jake Wichlacz (Eisenhower/Macomb, Mich.) walked and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Gose and an RBI single by Byerly.
With his team up 10-1, Mercado allowed an RBI single in the sixth before retiring the final two batters of the inning. Jake Schmeltz (Eastwood/Perrysburg, Ohio) relieved him for the seventh and allowed nothing aside from a one-out single.
Mercado's final line included six innings, seven hits, two runs, five walks and six strikeouts. He improved to 2-1 with the victory. Daniel Strodtbeck (2-2) took the loss for Lakeland after allowing five hits, six runs (five earned) and two walks with three strikeouts over 2.2 innings.
Wichlacz tallied three runs and two walks while finishing 1-for-2 from the plate for Owens. Rao led the team in hits with a 2-for-2, two run, one walk and one RBI performance. Gose, Byerly and Sipe each tallied two RBI from the 1-3 spots in the Owens lineup.
Miguel Flowers II went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Lakeland offense.
Wrap Up
With the split, Owens finished the weekend series vs Lakeland at 9-11 overall this year and 2-6 in OCCAC play. They went 2-2 over the weekend against Lakeland.
Lakeland is now 10-14 overall and 3-5 in OCCAC play.
Owens is tentatively scheduled to travel to Muskegon Community College for a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon. They will host a four-game series at home this weekend against another OCCAC foe Cuyahoga Community College on Friday and Saturday.