WILMORE, Kent. – Grace's baseball team split Saturday's doubleheader against Asbury. The Lancers (2-6) lost a low-scoring game one, but the bats awoke for game two.
David Anderson took the mound in the second game, refusing to let Grace leave without their second win of the season. Anderson pitched a gem, not allowing a hit until the sixth inning. He pitched 5.2 innings, allowing one run, two hits, and striking out five.
He was backed by 14 Lancer runs, as the bats came alive after coming up short in the first game. The final score of game two resulted in the Lancers winning 14-4.
Game one of Saturday's doubleheader featured a pitching duel where both teams starting pitchers went the distance. Hits were hard to come by, and it came down to the final out before Asbury (5-3) took its first lead of the game. Will McDonald had a pinch-hit walk-off single up to middle to win the game for the Eagles 2-1.
The Lancers struck first in the second inning. Austin Baker led off the inning with a single, where an error allowed him to advance to third. Chase Baker drove-in his brother the next at-bat with another single.
Asbury used small ball to manufacture the tying run in the bottom of the third. A leadoff single followed by a sacrifice bunt and wild pitch gave the Eagles a runner on third with one out. A safety squeeze by Brady Ast tied the game at one.
Both teams struggled to mount any sort of offense in the following innings. The game remained tied at one until the seventh inning walk-off.
Joe Dougherty pitched the whole game on the mound for the Lancers. He pitched 6.2 innings, striking out six, and only giving up two runs on four hits. Not to be outdone, Christian Beckley pitched a complete game of his own. He struck out 11 batters and only gave up two hits; his one run was unearned.
Chase Baker and Austin Baker provided the only two hits for the Lancers in game one. They each went 1 for 3, with Chase Baker recording Grace's only RBI. Josh Blancet went 2 for 3 at the plate for the Eagles.
The second game was scoreless until the Lancers broke the tie in the third inning. Grace took advantage of two Asbury errors in the inning combined with two hits to take a 4-0 lead. The Lancers extended their lead in the fifth. After two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases, Jamar Bray hit a bases-clearing double to give Grace a 7-0 lead.
Xavier Harris started the sixth inning with a bang, sending a no-doubter over the left-field fence. The bases were loaded again after several walks, and Jason Stevens picked up his first RBI of the day. He was followed by Shay Hepler who drove in three more runs. Stevens drove in the Lancers 14th run in the seventh after a towering fly-ball dropped in for a single.
Asbury took advantage of two Lancer errors to put together a three-run rally in the seventh inning, but it was too little too late.
Cameron Maxwell went 3 for 4 with an RBI; Harris went 2 for 4 with two RBIs in the second game. Bray went 2 for 2 in the game with three RBIs; Hepler matched his three RBIs with three of his own.
Joey Stenger went 1 for 2 with 2 RBIs for Asbury in the second game.
Grace will travel to Westfield, Indiana next weekend to play Cleary University. First pitch will take place Friday at 12 p.m.
