Rio divides twinbill with Truett-McConnell

Rio Grande Sports Information
     CLEVELAND, Ga. - AJ Thomas clubbed a two-out, tie-breaking two-run eighth inning home run to lift the University of Rio Grande to an 8-6 win over Truett McConnell University in game one of their non-conference baseball doubleheader, Saturday afternoon, at the TMU Baseball Complex.
     The host Bears, who won the opening game of the season-opening weekend set on Friday, captured the series with a 13-5 victory in the back end of the twinbill.
     Rio trailed 6-5 as it came to bat in the top of the eighth inning in Saturday's opener before mounting its rally against TMU reliever Jacob Adams, the Bears' fifth hurler of the contest.
     Senior John Arcaro (Trinity, FL) got the comeback started with a one-out single to right and senior Clayton Surrell (Carroll, OH) followed with a walk. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position and a groundout by junior Jakob Johnson (Pickerington, OH) plated Arcaro with the tying run.
     Thomas, a junior from Pickerington, Ohio, followed with the go-ahead home run.
     TMU put two runners on in the bottom of the frame and had another baserunner in the ninth, but couldn't score.
     Rio Grande trailed 3-0 after three innings, but scored four times in the fourth to take the lead.
     The Bears went back in front with three runs in the sixth, while the RedStorm got one of the runs back in the seventh before mounting the go-ahead rally in the eighth.
     Junior Daniel Rutherford (Coal Grove, OH) finished 2-for-5 with a double in the win, while freshman Griffin McMillan (Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada) doubled and drove in two runs.
     Jake Edwards had two hits and drove in two runs for Truett McConnell, while Mikal Mascarillo also had two hits and drove in a run.
     Andrew Johns had a double and drove in a run for the Bears.
     Junior Lane Mettler (Bainbridge, OH), the last of five Rio pitchers, got the win with three shutout innings. He walked three and struck out four.
     In game two, Truett McConnell sandwiched a seven-run second inning around a pair of three-run frames and cruised to the win.
     Ethan Roberts went 2-for-3 with three RBI for the Bears, while Mascarillo and Jordan Kenty both had two hits and two RBI.
     Edwards also had two hits in the win, while Caleb Ramsey and Caleb Gentry both drove in two runs.
     Thomas had two hits, including a double, for Rio Grande, while senior Andrew Daria (Villa Hills, KY) doubled and drove in two runs.
     Freshman Derek Eblin (Waverly, OH) started and took the loss for the RedStorm, allowing five hits and four runs in just one inning.
     Caleb Johnson started and picked up the win for TMU, despite allowing six hits and three runs over 4-2/3 innings.
     Rio Grande returns to action next Friday when it faces both Indiana South Bend and Lindsey Wilson as part of the "Clash of the Conferences" at TVA Ballpark in Johnson City, Tenn.