MARION, Ind. - The 2025 Grace baseball campaign came to a conclusion on Wednesday afternoon in the opening round of the Crossroads League Tournament.
Grace held a lead for a majority of the contest, but the Knights rallied late to beat the Lancers in walk-off fashion 6-5.
The Lancers jumped on the scoreboard first, plating one run in the top of the first. Josh Cosme ripped a two-out single to right, giving Dalton Cody the opportunity to score from second on the play.
The Knights immediately responded, scoring an unearned run in the bottom of the first to even the score.
John Joyce broke the deadlock an inning later with a solo home run to give Grace a 2-1 advantage. The scoreline would stay that way until the Lancers extended their lead later in the sixth.
Neither team could get anything going in the middle innings; pitching and defense was on display. Only one runner for each team reached base safely from the third through the fifth inning.
The Lancers used a three-run inning with great execution at the plate to gain separation in the sixth. Cody reached on a dropped third strike and moved into scoring position on a hit-and-run by Ryan Stark. Jose Ayala then executed a squeeze bunt to bring home Cody. A throwing error on the play allowed runners to advance to second and third.
After a pitching change, Grant Hartley laid down another squeeze bunt; this time Grace plated two runs thanks to aggressive baserunning by Ayala who was right on the heels of Stark coming home.
Grace ran into trouble with two outs in the seventh; Marian erased a four-run deficit to even the score heading into the final innings.
The Lancers attempted to put together a two-out rally in the eighth by working a pair of walks, but Grace could not generate a run to pull ahead.
Hunter Schumacher came out of the bullpen to pitch a scoreless eighth by striking out the side.
After getting a 1-2-3 top of the ninth, the Knights went into their final at-bats looking to find the game-winning run.
With two outs in the ninth, the Knights took advantage of a throwing error and a balk to put the winning run 90 feet away. A single to right ended the game to knock the Lancers out of the tourney.
Grace's pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts on the day — Evan Etchison with six, Schumacher with four and Steen Bellerjeau with one.
Five different players recorded a hit for the Lancers. Hartley picked up two RBIs and a walk, and Cody had 1 hit and 2 runs.
Grace's season ends after a myriad of record-breaking performances. The Lancers recorded their most overall wins and most league wins for a single season in program history.
The Lancers also set multiple individual single-season records, including most doubles (Jose Ayala), most RBIs (Ryan Stark) and most home runs (Ryan Stark). Schumacher tied his own single-season save record as well.
Career milestones were achieved by Etchison, who became the all-time wins leader and the first pitcher in program history with 300 strikeouts, and Maximo De Leon, who broke the career runs mark. A number of team and single-game records fell as well.
Additionally, head coach Ryan Roth recorded his 100th career win at the helm during the memorable campaign.
