PORTSMOUTH – Baseball dropped both ends of its doubleheader against No. 23 Georgetown Saturday afternoon as the Tigers (16-4, 6-3 MSC) used a big inning in both games to carry them to a series win. Georgetown took the opening game 15-5 with an eight-run second inning to start the day and used a five-run fourth inning in the second game to fuel an 8-3 win. The Bears (15-13, 6-3 MSC) are now tied with Georgetown atop the MSC standings after three full weekends of conference play.
Walks would be a problem all day for the Bears, but no example better served this point than the second inning of the opening game. After the team's traded runs in the first with Dalton Tinsley driving in the Bears' first run, the Tigers exploded for eight runs in the second inning. The big blast came from reigning MSC Player of the Week as Martin Lemus as he hit a grand slam to finish the scoring in the inning. The underlying factor of the big inning was two walks and two hit by pitches. Three times those free passes forced in a run.
Brady Hightchew and Daniel Katayama each came up with RBI hits in the bottom of that inning, while another run scored an error during Katayama's hit. Georgetown would answer right back though with four hits and a walk to score three more runs and lead 12-4 after three full innings.
After that big second inning, the bats for both sides stayed relatively quiet. Georgetown scored another in the fourth, making it four straight scoring innings to start the game. The Bears got one in the bottom of the fifth on a wild pitch that scored Brady Page.
Georgetown would bring an end to the game in the eighth inning with the final two runs being pushed across on walks to make it a 15-5 final in eight innings.
After the opening loss, the Bears appeared to have righted the ship on the day as they scored first for only time this weekend with Tinsley doubling home Katayama in the bottom of the first to make it 1-0. Shawnee State starter Cody Strayer worked around base runners in the first three innings to hold that lead.
However, when Georgetown struck they did so in another big way with five runs in the fourth. The Tigers loaded the bases with two singles and a hit by pitch. A wild pitch, sacrifice fly and single from Lemus gave the Tigers three runs. Strayer appeared to have the groundout he needed to escape the inning but a nasty hop over the first baseman's head plated two more runs, putting Georgetown up 5-1.
The Bears would get two of those runs back on RBI hits from Mason Wisner and Hightchew to make it a 5-3 game. However, the only scoring that would be done the rest of the games would come from Georgetown as a two-out walk came around to score in the sixth, while two more bunts with runners on the corners made it an 8-3 final following the seventh inning.
Baseball will now prepare for some extended time on the road as the Bears head to Ohio-Chillicothe on Wednesday in what will be a 4 p.m. start. Shawnee State will also be on the road next weekend in its upcoming Mid-South Conference series against the University of the Cumberlands.
