February 21, 2010

Rio baseball continues to roll

Cleveland, TN --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm baseball team made up last Monday's postponement of their early season statement game with NAIA pre-season No. 5 Lee University on Sunday afternoon and came away with a 6-5 victory. 

Rio Grande (7-1) made it interesting by committing five errors, including two key miscues in the bottom of the ninth inning that allowed Lee (10-2) to plate three runs. 

The RedStorm continued to get quality pitching, this time from senior Tyler Schunk (Cincinnati, OH). Schunk battled into the eighth inning and made his first decision of 2010 a winning one. Sophomore righthander Ryan Chapman (Racine, OH) came on in the ninth inning to put out the fire and collect his first save of the year.

Lee had the winning run at the plate when Chapman induced a game-ending fly out. 

"We almost blew it, we tried to," said Rio Grande head coach Brad Warnimont. "The wheels came off late."

"We out-hit them 10-8 and got some clutch pitching," Warnimont added. "Schunk and Chapman threw well." 

Senior catcher Tyler Plumpton (Peterborough, ONT) had a big day offensively for the RedStorm as he went 3-for-4 with a triple and an RBI. Junior Michael Lynch (Lyndhurst, OH) also had three hits and an RBI. 

Senior centerfielder Ryan Yakura (Pickering, ONT) was 1-for-4 with an RBI while junior second baseman Christian Frias (Salinas, PR), junior first baseman Francisco Ramirez (Columbus, OH) and freshman third baseman Joe Stolpa (Galloway, OH) all added base hits for Rio Grande.

Rio Grande is scheduled to face archrival Shawnee State on Tuesday at Bob Evans Field. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 2:55 p.m.