By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Sylvania, Ohio---The Owens Community College baseball team produced 16 hits in an 11-1, seven inning victory over Lourdes University JV on Wednesday evening at Mercy Field.
Four players had at least three hits for Owens, led by Tyler Byerly (Washington Township/Crown Point, Ind.), who went 4-for-4 with two runs and three RBI.
In the first inning, Benjamin Breymier (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.) knocked in a pair of runs with a single to left field. Then, in the second, Stephen Parker (Eisenhower/Shelby Township, Mich.) and Byerly each had RBI singles to put Owens up 4-0.
Logan Snyder (Bedford/Lambertville, Mich.) made his third appearance and first start of the season for Owens. After striking out a pair in the first, he walked back to back hitters to lead off the second.
Robbie Bekier (Cardinal Stritch/Toledo, Ohio) then entered in relief. He allowed one of the inherited runners to score.
Neither team scored in the third. Then, with one out in the fourth, Byerly produced his second RBI single of the game to put Owens up 5-1.
After another scoreless inning in the fifth, Owens put the game away with six runs in the sixth. Parker doubled to lead off the inning and later scored on a balk. Byerly produced another RBI single to score Casey Gose (Genoa/Genoa, Ohio), who had singled on a bunt after Parker's leadoff double.
After a walk and a hit batter, Jake Weshalek (Shrine Catholic/Royal Oak, Mich.) knocked another run in via a sacrifice fly to center. Following that, Jake Norbut (Grove City/Grove City, Ohio) put Owens up 10-1 with a two-run single through the right side before Jake Wichlacz (Eisenhower/Macomb, Mich.) capped the inning's scoring with a sacrifice fly to center.
Ardry Mercado (St. Raymond's High School for Boys/Manhattan, N.Y.) closed out the game after that with two scoreless innings in relief.
Owens, using pitch counts with each pitcher, had four players combine for a four-hitter. The combination of Snyder, Bekier, Luke Whelpton (Vauxhall/Brandon, Manitoba, Canada) and Mercado allowed an average of one hit per pitcher, while totaling five walks. They also struck out 12 combined batters, led by four from Mercado and three apiece from Bekier and Whelpton.
Aside from Byerly's four-hit attack, Owens got three hits apiece from Gose (3-for-5, 3 R, SB), Norbut (3-for-4, R, 2 SB, 2 RBI) and Parker (3-for-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI).
Owens (14-21) will be back in action this weekend with a four-game series at Lakeland Community College. They are then scheduled to close regular season play at Grand Rapids Community College on Monday before beginning postseason play next weekend.
Notes
Former Owens baseball player Alex Samson led off for Lourdes. He finished 1-for-2 with a walk.
Norbut's three-hit game was his sixth multi-hit game of the season and his second three-hit game...Parker's three-hit game was his season-high and his second multi-hit game of the year...Gose's three-hit game was the 10th time this year he has recorded multiple hits. It also marked the fifth time this year he has had three or more hits...Byerly's four-hit game was his second of the season. He also went 4-for-4 on April 12 vs Cuyahoga. His three RBI game Wednesday was a season-high.
The 16 hits by Owens represented the team's second highest team total of the season.