FORT WAYNE, Ind. – A play at the plate ended Grace's comeback bid against Saint Francis on Saturday afternoon. For the second-straight day, Grace's baseball team outhit Cougars, but came up short in conference play 7-6 and 8-4.
The Lancers put runs on the board in the third inning to hold the early advantage.
Carter Stogsdill took advantage of wild pitching to plate Grace's first run. After a walk to
Gabriel Maldonado, an RBI double from
Darl Gustin scored his courtesy runner. Aggressive baserunning from
Jose Ayala forced an error that led to another run.
The lead held until the fifth inning when the Cougars scored five runs to move ahead.
Grace had a chance to do damage in the sixth. With one out and the bases loaded,
Joey Diaz produced an RBI single to get within one run. USF, however, escaped the jam with the slim 5-4 advantage.
More wild pitching allowed the tying run to score in the seventh frame. Friesema doubled to start the inning and benefitted from two wild pitches to score.
USF broke the tie in the bottom half of the same inning with one swing of the bat.
The score remained in favor of the Cougars heading into the final inning. Grace made things interesting, getting two runners aboard early in the inning. With two outs,
Ian Wilson ripped a single. The lead runner scored and the trail runner was right on his heels, but a perfect relay throw nabbed the sliding Friesema, the tying run, at the plate to end the game.
Friesema collected two hits and scored a run. Gustin added 1 hit, 1 RBI and 2 runs.
Kyle Showley and
Bryce Berkemeier combined for nine strikeouts in the opener.
The Cougars got off to a fast start in the series finale, scoring six runs in the home half of the first. Two more runs scored in the third before Grace broke onto the scoreboard.
The Lancers scored four runs over the final three innings to close the gap, but the score ended 8-4.
Grant Rojek lined a double to left to score Stogsdill for the first run in the fifth. An inning later, a roundtripper from Ayala added another run. The final runs came off the bat of Friesema. His single in the seventh plated two.
Rojek provided a little bit of everything on offense. He had 2 doubles, 1 RBI, 1 run, 1 walk and 1 stolen base. Friesema added a hit and two RBIs.
The Lancers will be back at Tom Roy UPI Park for their final non-conference doubleheader against IU Columbus on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
