Lancers fall to Cougars

WINONA LAKE, Ind. - Grace's baseball team completed its season-series against Saint Francis on Saturday afternoon, dropping both games on the day 4-2 and 12-4. The teams battled windy and chilly conditions throughout the four-game series.

Grace looked to be aggressive to open the game. Maximo De Leon opened the home half of the first with a double and moved into better scoring position after a sacrifice bunt. De Leon, however, was nabbed at the plate on Matt Friesema's grounder to the left side.

The Cougars put a run on the board to open the second frame, but the Lancers had an answer to level the score.

Ryan Stark singled to lead off the inning and moved over to third on Jose Ayala's single. Keenan LeBlanc executed a squeeze play, allowing Stark to cross the plate.

USF was able to score three runs over the next two innings to push ahead 4-1.

Grace manufactured another run in similar fashion to the previous two runs. De Leon earned a hit by pitch followed by a Dalton Cody single. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up 90 feet, Cosme singled up the middle to bring home a run.

From that point forward, both pitching staffs buckled down and didn't allow another run to score the rest of the game. 

The Lancers had runners reach base in all but one inning down the stretch, but the breakthrough wasn't found with score reading 4-2 after the final at bat. 

De Leon had three hits in the game with a run scored. Cosme contributed 1 hit, 1 run and 1 walk.

USF jumped out to an early five-run lead to start the second game of the day. That cushion propelled the visitors to control the game throughout. 

Grace clawed back a run in its first time at the plate when De Leon scored on Friesema's groundout to the shortstop. 

After the Cougars added three more runs to the scoreline, the Lancers matched the output with three runs of their own in the middle innings. 

Stark provided some power, tying the single-season home run record with his 12th long ball of year in the fourth inning. 

An inning later, the Lancers took advantage of wild pitching, garnering two walks before a wild pitch allowed a run to score. Cody added a sac fly to plate the second run of the frame.

USF used a four-run sixth inning to put the game out of reach, making it 12-4.

Grace had an opportunity to cut into the deficit in its half of the sixth by loading the bases on a double and two walks. The Cougars, however, were able to induce an inning-ending double play to thwart the chance. 

The Lancers went down in order in the bottom of the seventh to end the game 12-4.

Stark provided two extra-base hits with one RBI and one run. Cody finished with two hits and an RBI.

The Lancers will face off against IU Columbus in a non-conference tilt on March 25 at Tom  Roy - UPI Park, starting at 1 p.m.