INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Grace's baseball team picked up two pivotal wins to claim a series victory against Marian on Friday afternoon. The offense started out the day with a flurry of output that continued throughout both games of the doubleheader, leading to a pair of convincing victories 15-5 and 14-4.

Grace's lineup banged out 29 runs on 26 hits, scoring at least one run in every inning of the second game of the twin bill.

The Lancers started the opener with three runs in their first at-bat to gain the early momentum. With two outs in the inning, the visitors went to work. Two batters walked before Jose Ayala scored them both on a double in the gap. Grant Hartley followed with an RBI single.

Grace added another run in the third on Ryan Stark's home run, but Marian kept pace scoring four of their own to level the score midway through the game. From that point forward, however, Grace outscored the Knights 11-1 to end the game after seven innings.

Five runs in the fifth broke the game open. Maximo De Leon led off the inning with a solo shot. With the bases loaded, Bradyn McIntosh doubled down the line to bring home a pair, and Sean Gannon followed with a single that chased home two more.

The next inning featured a walk, 2 singles, a triple and 2 home runs, leading to four runs. Ayala and Stark had the roundtrippers and De Leon sped to the triple.

Grace capped off the offensive surge with two runs in the seventh to put the lead at ten runs. Ayala added two more RBIs to his line with the run-scoring single.

Three pitchers combined to hold the Knights to four runs on five hits. Parker Newby picked up the win with Sam Justice and Kyle Showley also toeing the rubber.

Ayala paced the team with 5 RBIs to go along with 3 hits and 2 runs. Stark also had a three-hit game with 5 runs, 2 RBIs and 1 walk.

The offense picked up where it left off as game two got underway. Stark tripled and scored on Josh Cosme's base hit. Ayala followed with a double to make it 2-0. Mason Wire extended Grace's lead with a solo blast in the second.

Marian plated two of their own to keep the game close, but the Lancers outscored the Knights 11-2 the rest of the way to get their second 10-run win of the day.

Ayala continued his hot hitting with a two-run homer in the third. The next inning, De Leon dropped in a double to add two more and a bases-loaded walk forced in the third run of the inning.
The runs kept coming. In the fifth, Wire executed a well-placed bunt, allowing one to score. Then a bases-loaded walk plated another. Grace benefitted from wild pitching in the sixth. There were two singles in the inning, but four walks and numerous wild pitches allowed three runs to come home.

Back-to-back doubles from John Joyce and Wire completed the scoring for the Lancers in the final inning.

Wire picked up 3 hits, 3 RBIs and 2 runs. Ayala added 4 RBIs with 2 hits, 1 run and a walk.

Steven Hernandez pitched 6.0 strong innings to get the win. Aiden McSherry came on in relief for the final inning, striking out the side to end the game.

With both wins, Grace heads into the final series of the regular season with a two-game lead over Bethel for the final spot in the league tournament picture.

Next up for the Lancers will be a single non-conference game against Trinity Christian on April 22. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. in Illinois.