By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Toledo, Ohio---Marcus Rozsa's (All Saints Secondary/Whitby, Ontario, Canada) two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning of yesterday's second game gave the Owens Community College baseball team hope, but he was stranded as No. 9 Sinclair Community College picked up a 4-3 win to sweep a conference doubleheader.

Game 1: Sinclair 11 Owens 1 (Six Innings)

Owens starter Robbie Bekier (Cardinal Stritch/Toledo, Ohio) held Sinclair down for the first two innings and the first two batters of the third inning, but the Tartan Pride then put seven straight batters on base, including three doubles, to take a 5-0 lead.

Charlie Sipe (Northrop/Fort Wayne, Ind.) answered back with an RBI triple in the bottom of the third. On the play, Tyler Byerly (Washington Township/Crown Point, Ind.) scored.

In the fourth. Tyler Cowles hit a two-run home run to give Sinclair a 7-1 lead.

Neither team scored again until the sixth when Sinclair produced four runs off reliever Jake Schmeltz (Eastwood/Perrysburg, Ohio). Jake Wichlacz (Eisenhower/Macomb, Mich.) relieved Schmeltz to finish the inning in what was his collegiate pitching debut.

Looking to keep the game going, the Owens offense fell 1-2-3 in the sixth against Sinclair's Mitch Asman, who threw a complete game.

Bekier (2-3) allowed seven runs, seven hits and three walks while striking out three over 3.2 innings. Schmeltz went 1.2 innings and allowed three hits, four runs and three walks. Wichlacz allowed one hit and one walk with one strikeout over two-thirds of an inning.

Asman allowed six hits, one run and two walks while striking out three over six innings.

Sipe went 2-for-2 with an RBI to lead the Owens offense.

Game 2: Sinclair 4 Owens 3

Owens jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning off Sinclair's Jonathan Crawford via an RBI single from Robbie Walker (Snider/Fort Wayne, Ind.).

In the fourth, Sinclair's Cowles hit a leadoff home run to left field off Owens starter Kyle Bennett (Grove City/Grove City, Ohio) to tie the game at one.

Later, in the fifth, Sinclair produced a run scoring single before adding two insurance runs in the seventh that would prove to be the difference in the game. 

Casey Gose (Genoa/Genoa, Ohio) led off the home half by reaching on an error. Sipe then doubled to put two runners in scoring position for Rozsa, who knocked both of them in with a single to left.

Following a sacrifice bunt by Justin Curry (Anthony Wayne/Perrysburg, Ohio) that put Rozsa on second, back-to-back strikeouts ended the game.

Jake Norbut (Grove City/Grove City, Ohio) finished 2-for-3, while Rozsa was 1-for-3 with his two RBI.

Bennett (1-5) took the loss despite throwing a complete game. He allowed eight hits, four runs and four walks while striking out six. 

On the other side, Crawford picked up the win by going the first four innings, while Mason Aelker picked up the save.

Notes

Owens is now 13-17 overall and 4-12 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play, while Sinclair is 34-5 overall and 11-1 in OCCAC play.

Owens will be back in action tomorrow at home against University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) JV.

Cowles was a nemesis for Owens all day. He finished 4-for-7 with seven RBI, a double, two home runs and four runs.