KOKOMO, Ind. -- The baseball program at Shawnee State continued its strong collective performance at the plate Saturday, as the Bears posted 17 runs on 21 hits to claim the first contest of a River States Conference road doubleheader at Indiana-Kokomo Saturday at Kokomo Municipal Stadium in Kokomo, Ind.
In the opening contest of Saturday's affairs, Shawnee State broke open a 6-6 tie after seven innings of work by scoring four runs in the eighth and ninth innings to conclude matters -- and claim the first contest. The Bears then rallied from an 8-1 deficit in Game 2 to cut Indiana-Kokomo's lead to a 10-7 margin, but couldn't come any closer in Saturday's split.
Game 1
After initially trailing by a 1-0 count in Saturday's opener, the Bears struck -- and took the lead in the second inning. Following a one-out walk by Hunter Warner, Eli Jones and Zach Gaspar nabbed back-to-back singles, with Gaspar's base knock scoring both Warner and Jones to put Shawnee State up by a 2-1 tally over Indiana-Kokomo after two innings of work.
In the fourth inning, Shawnee State again battled its way out of a tie ballgame, as after seeing Indiana-Kokomo answer with a run in the bottom of the second, the Bears came back in the top of the fourth with one of their own as a walk by Ryan Scott, and back-to-back singles by Tyler Lund and Nolan Tressler allowed Shawnee State to take a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth inning of work off of Tressler's RBI single.
Indiana-Kokomo rallied back again to tie the score at three runs apiece after four innings of play, but in the fifth stanza, Shawnee State countered with three tallies as one-out singles by Jones and Mason Reid were followed by an error, a two-RBI single by Gaspar and an RBI fielder's choice by Scott as Shawnee State took a 6-3 lead with the contest flipping to the bottom of the fifth frame.
For the third time, the Cougars rallied by scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth and another tally in the sixth to tie the score at six runs apiece -- but in the latter stages of the contest, the Bears, with the game hanging in the balance, took control.
With the game still tied at six runs apiece in the eighth inning, Tressler and Jace Parnin posted back-to-back singles, leading to a pitching change. That change, however, failed to affect Diego Mendoza -- who drove in Tressler for what would be the game's go-ahead run to push the lead to a 7-6 margin. Then, after an error, Jones produced again as his RBI fielder's choice brought in Parnin -- giving Shawnee State an 8-6 lead after eight innings of play.
In the ninth, Shawnee State gave itself breathing room by adding to its two-run lead -- as a leadoff walk by Gaspar, a sacrifice bunt by Scott, a walk by Lund and a hit batter allowed Parnin to produce with a sacrifice fly RBI. A wild pitch then allowed the Bears to add its 10th and final run of the opener en route to the four-run victory in Game 1.
For the contest, the pitching combination of Ethan Ison, Jakobe Reese and Carson Wireman each combined for six strikeouts across their nine innings of work together -- and overcame four Shawnee State errors by allowing only three earned runs in the SSU win.
At the plate, Gaspar (2-for-4, walk, two RBI, two runs scored), Tressler (2-for-4, walk, RBI, run scored), and Jones (2-for-5, RBI, run scored) led the Shawnee State batting order with multi-hit performances, while Scott (1-for-3, walk, SAC, three RBI, run scored), Parnin (1-for-4, walk, RBI, run scored), Reid (1-for-4, run scored), Lund (1-for-4, walk, run scored) and Mendoza (1-for-6, RBI) all made an appearance in the hit column.
Game 2
Down 8-1 through four innings of work, Rob Ehlers' group put together a spirited rally in Game 2 to make matters interesting. In the fifth frame, leadoff single by Nolan Tressler was followed by one-out doubles from Diego Mendoza and Mason Reid -- with the latter driving in both Tressler and Mendoza with his two-run double to center field. Then, after a passed ball and a walk, an RBI fielder's choice by Hunter Warner drove in Reid -- cutting Indiana-Kokomo's 8-1 lead to 8-4.
The Cougars followed with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the fifth -- but in the top of the sixth inning, Shawnee State, down 10-4 entering the frame, kept its foot on the gas offensively. A leadoff single by Tyler Lund was followed by a double from Tressler, and with two gone in the frame, Reid lifted a triple down the right field line to score both Lund and Tressler -- then scored on a wild pitch, as the Bears turned the once 8-1 affair into a 10-7 deficit. Indiana-Kokomo, however, was able to put the game away -- nabbing a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth in an affair where Indiana-Kokomo scored four of its runs -- the difference in the ballgame -- with two outs against it.
Offensively, Reid (3-for-5, triple, double, five RBI, four runs scored) and Mendoza (3-for-4, two doubles) had field days while Tressler (2-for-4, walk, two runs scored) joined the duo in the multi-hit column. Lund (1-for-3, walk, run scored), Eli Jones (1-for-1, three walks) and Gaspar (1-for-4) rounded out those who reached the hit column on Shawnee State's side.
Additional
Shawnee State (13-6, 3-2 River States Conference) will look to win the series in a Sunday afternoon contest that will be held at 1 p.m. at Kokomo Municipal Stadium in Kokomo, Ind.
