After falling behind initially by a 3-0 margin, the Shawnee State baseball program roared back in a big way with a five-run second-inning that included a grand slam from Nolan Tressler -- and from there, the Bears never looked back en route to an 13-7 victory over the Brescia Bearcats' baseball program Sunday evening at Branch Rickey Park in Portsmouth.

In five out of the eight innings that Shawnee State came to bat, the Bears posted at least two or more hits en route to banging out 16 hits in Sunday's convincing six-run triumph. Included in that total was a pair of home runs -- Tressler's tank in the second inning of play and a solo home run by Noah Sniadach in the bottom of the fourth -- that was a part of an eight-run unanswered total by the Bears (8-10, 3-1 RSC).

Runs on runs on runs

Not shy about producing crooked frames as of late, Shawnee State, following a walk by Zach Gaspar and a balk, cut into Brescia's early 3-0 lead in the bottom half of the second inning with an RBI base knock by Hunter Warner in the second frame of action.

Then, after a hit by pitch and an error, Tressler, who nearly collected a first inning tank that went foul due to the heavy and, oftentimes, relentless wind that was blowing at Branch Rickey Park during the contest, was redeemed as the talented outfielder shot a no-doubter over the right field fence to put Shawnee State ahead by a 5-3 margin after the second inning of work.

In the fourth frame, Sniadach added on -- as the senior led off the bottom half of the inning by going top tank to right field himself.

The senior first baseman's solo home run was followed by a standout double to left by Eric Oakes and a bloop single by Warner that brought Oakes around, pushing the Shawnee State lead to a 7-3 margin through four innings of play.

Sniadach and Oakes then teamed up to add another run in the fifth frame, as Sniadach's double with two gone in the fifth frame allowed Oakes to bring Sniadach in with a double of his own -- increasing the Shawnee State advantage to an 8-3 margin through five innings of work.

Answering the call

When Brescia closed to within 8-5 after the completion of the top half of the seventh frame, Shawnee State responded -- as the Bears tacked on three runs of their own to thwart any hopes of a Bearcat comeback. Back-to-back singles by Diego Mendoza and Noah Sniadach, along with a sacrifice bunt, allowed the pair to score on an error. Ryan Scott then added his own RBI base knock to push the SSU margin to an 11-5 count. The Bears scored their final pair of runs on two wild pitches in the eighth inning to finalize the score.

Additional

Shawnee State junior pitcher Jakobe Reese pitched up the win, going four innings and striking out three batters while pitching scoreless frames in the second, third, and fourth frames of action. He, along with SSU freshman hurler Ethan Ison, combined to throw eight innings of nine-hit baseball where the pair struck out nine.

In addition to Tressler's grand slam, Sniadach was an offensive terror at the plate, going 4-for-6 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored from the No. 3 hole. Warner went 2-for-6 with four RBI and two runs scored while Oakes (2-for-3, two doubles, walk, RBI, run scored), Mendoza (2-for-5, walk), and Tyler Lund (2-for-5, two runs scored) each joined Sniadach and Warner in the multi-hit column.

With Sunday's victory, Shawnee State has won six of its last seven contests. The Bears will look for a potential series sweep Monday afternoon when Shawnee State takes on Brescia to close out the three-game River States Conference series with a doubleheader that begins at 12 p.m.

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