The baseball program at Shawnee State split a mid-week twinbill against the Miami-Hamilton Harriers Wednesday evening -- getting two homers in the third and sixth innings of play in Game 1 from Diego Mendoza and receiving another homer from Eric Oakes as part of a six-run fifth frame that led to a 10-4 victory to open Wednesday's action. The Bears, however, fell in the second contest by a 6-3 final score.

Game 1

Mendoza goes yard in the third

After getting a two-out, bases loaded infield single from Ryan Scott to drive in the game's first run in the opening inning, Miami-Hamilton added an equalizing run in the second frame to tie the game at one apiece on an error.

However, Shawnee State catcher Diego Mendoza changed matters in a hurry.

With one on and one out in the inning, Mendoza hammered a two-run base over the right center field fence to give Shawnee State a 3-1 advantage after three innings of work.

Lund, Oakes, Tressler lead crooked fifth frame

Miami-Hamilton rallied to tie the score in the fifth inning on a two-run homer by Bradley Vargas, but in the bottom half of the same frame, Shawnee State helped put the contest out of reach with a six-run frame.

Doing all of its damage with two gone in the bottom of the fifth, walks by Zach Gaspar and Ryan Scott and an infield single by Luis Mejia loaded the bases, and Tyler Lund, along with Nolan Tressler, followed with a two-RBI double down the left field line and a two-RBI single to left to give Shawnee State a 7-3 advantage.

Then Oakes -- well-known for his ability to crank homers after a nine-homer campaign in 2023 -- capped off the inning with an absolute definition of a moonshot, sending a ball high over the left field fence to cap off the six-run tally.

Mendoza caps scoring with second homer in Game 1

Back at the plate once again, Diego Mendoza, in a carbon copy to his third-inning drive, launched a solo home run over the right field fence to nab his second homer in as many at-bats.

Mendoza, who finished with one home run, three extra base hits and 12 RBI all of last season, went 2-for-3 with two home runs, three RBI and two runs scored in Shawnee State's Game 1 triumph.

Game 2

Highlights from Game 2's 6-3 setback to Miami-Hamilton included:

• An RBI triple to right field by Tyler Lund in the first inning, which tied the score at a run apiece
• A leadoff, standup double by Diego Mendoza in the fourth inning, which tied the second game at two
• A solo home run by Noah Sniadach in the sixth inning.

Additional

By going 4-for-6 with two homers, a double, three RBI and three runs scored, Mendoza surpassed his home run total and matched his extra base hit total from 2023 in Wednesday's doubleheader. 

Tyler Lund (4-for-6, triple, double, three RBI, run scored) and Noah Sniadach (4-for-7, home run, RBI, two runs scored) also hit over .500 over the two-game set.

Shawnee State (2-8) will turn its attention to a three-game series against Concordia University-Ann Arbor (Mich.), which will begin with a doubleheader Sunday at 12 p.m. and end with a single contest Monday afternoon at 12 p.m.

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