Portsmouth, Ohio – Shawnee State baseball split their doubleheader with Kentucky Christian on Saturday, winning game one 7-5 but falling in game two 4-2.
Kentucky Christian would take an early lead, pushing four runs across in the top of the first. Trey Mills would lead off the game by reaching second on Danny McGuire (FR/Cleveland, Ohio)'s wild throw to first. Mills would score on Trey Cline's double down the left field line, making the score 1-0 Kentucky Christian. Brandon Clark then singled through the hole at shortstop, allowing Cline to score to double the lead. Dane Wilson then singled down the right field line to put two men on with nobody out. Brady Knittel (SR/West Portsmouth, Ohio) would strike out Brock Damron to get one out, but Dakota Bowen would hit a line drive into the left-center field gap, scoring both Clark and Wilson and giving Kentucky Christian a 4-0 lead heading to the bottom of the first.
Shawnee State would get two pivotal runs to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the first. Seth Clement (FR/Kissimmee, Florida) would walk with one out, and JT Boggs (SR/South Shore, Kentucky) would chase him down with a double off the right field wall, advancing to third on the throw home. With two outs, Chase Thurber (JR/Andover, Ohio) would single through the hole at shortstop, scoring Boggs to cut the Kentucky Christian lead to 4-2.
Kentucky Christian would tack on a run in the top of the fifth. Clark and Wilson would hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. Damron would then bunt into a fielder's choice, with Knittel throwing out Wilson at second but Clark reaching third safely. Bowen then hit a sacrifice fly to deep right-center field, scoring Clark to give KCU a 5-2 lead.
Shawnee State would rally to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, McGuire would double into the gap in right-center, and would reach third on a bang-bang play when Bowen would drop the ball at third applying the tag. Christian Helton (JR/Lexington, Kentucky) then doubled to right field to drive in McGuire. Clement would walk to put two on with one out, and Boggs would single to right, driving in Helton and moving McGuire to third. After Zach Straley (FR/Uniontown, Ohio) struck out swinging to put two outs on the board, Thurber would hit a three-run home run to straight away left field, giving Shawnee State a 7-5 lead. From there, the Bears would hold on to pick up the win.
Brady Knittel would get the win, allowing five runs on eight hits in seven innings, striking out five. Brandon Clark took the loss, allowing seven runs on eight hits in seven innings. Casey Claflin (SR/Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) would throw two innings to get the save, allowing no runs on no hits and picking up a strikeout.
Shawnee State would take the early lead in game two, scoring a run in the bottom of the third. Blake Marshall (JR/Lexington, Kentucky) would walk with one out to put a man on. With two outs, Seth Clement would hit a grounder toward shortstop that Brock Damron misplayed, allowing both runners to reach base. JT Boggs then singled through the right side, scoring Marshall to give Shawnee State a 1-0 lead.
Kentucky Christian would then score four runs in the top of the fourth inning to take the lead. Dane Wilson double to left-center field to lead off the inning, and would get to third on Damron's single up the middle. Damron would steal second base, and Dakota Bowen then grounded out to short to score Wilson and move Damron to third, tying the score. Andrew Rice would follow by singling through the hole at shortstop, driving in Damron to give KCU the lead. Logan Wade would follow with the final blow of the inning, hitting a two-run home run to right to give KCU a 4-1 lead.
The game would settle down until Shawnee State would attempt to rally in the bottom of the seventh. Danny McGuire would lead off the inning by doubling to right-center, and would come around to score on Marshall's single to right. Christian Helton then reached on a walk. Clement would lay down a bunt attempt, but Marshall would be thrown out at third on the fielder's choice. JT Boggs then popped out to the catcher Bowen behind the plate. Shawnee State would then attempt a double steal, but Christian Helton would get caught in a run-down attempting to return to second base, being tagged out to end the game.
Dane Wilson would get the win for Kentucky Christian, allowing two runs on six hits in seven innings pitched to lead KCU to the first win in their program's history. Zach Straley took the loss, allowing four runs on five hits in three and one-third innings pitched.
The split moves Shawnee State to 14-25 on the season. Kentucky Christian moves to 1-31.
Shawnee State wraps up the season next Friday and Saturday with a three game series against Cumberland (Tenn.). First pitch for Friday's game is set for 3:00pm.
