RedStorm rolls in game one, splits with Saints

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Angel De La Cruz and Andrew Daria drove in two runs apiece, while Reid Shultz tossed 3-1/3 innings of scoreless relief to help the University of Rio Grande post an 8-3 game one win over Aquinas (Mich.) College, Saturday afternoon, in non-conference baseball action at Bob Evans Field.
     The Saints rallied for a 5-1 victory in eight innings in the nightcap to earn a split of the twinbill.
     Rio Grande finished the day at 6-10, while Aquinas is now 3-3.
     The RedStorm never trailed in the opener, scoring twice in the bottom of the first inning and slowly building on the advantage.
     De La Cruz, a sophomore from Santo Domingo, D.R., had a run-scoring single in the two-run first and Daria - a graduate senior from Villa Hills, Ky. - had a two-run double in a three-run third, staking Rio to a 5-1 lead.
     The Saints chopped the deficit in half with a pair of fourth inning runs, but De La Cruz hit a solo home run in the fifth and junior Trey Carter (Wheelersburg, OH) added an RBI single as part of a two-run sixth inning to set the final score.
     Shultz, a sophomore from Minford, Ohio, took over for freshman starter Daewin Spence (Portsmouth, OH) in the fourth inning and, despite allowing three hits and as many walks, blanked the visitors over the final 3-1/3 innings to get his third win in as many decisions this season.
     Shultz also struck out three.
     Mason Hill started and took the loss for Aquinas, allowing four hits, four walks and five runs - four earned - over three innings.
     De La Cruz finished 3-for-3 in the winning effort for Rio.
     Dane Smitz had two hits and drove in a run for the Saints, while Ryan Gillings also finished 2-for-3.
     In the nightcap, Rio Grande squandered a dazzling pitching performance from freshman Jacob Napier (Alexandria, KY), who allowed just two hits and two walks over six innings while striking out 11.
     The RedStorm took a 1-0 lead on a run-scoring single by sophomore Alex Scoular (Whitby, Ontario, Canada) in the third inning before Aquinas tied the contest on a fourth inning groundout by Grant Martin.
     That's how things stayed until the Saints pushed across four unearned markers against freshman Hayden Simon (Stouffville, Ontario, Canada) thanks, in large part, to a pair of costly errors.
     Dawson Shearer reached on an error to begin the inning and was bunted into scoring position before Smitz was intentionally walked and Mark Binkowski struck out swinging.
     But Martin singled to right to break the tie, Jake Paganelli reached on an infield single to load the bases and Gillings grounder to shortstop was errored which allowed Smitz to score and make it 3-1.
     Nicolas Verdugo then capped the rally with a two-run single to right to set the final score.
     Nathan Myers got the win for Aquinas, tossing two innings of one-hit shutout relief.
     Smitz had the Saints' lone extra-base hit, a double.
     Senior Clayton Surrell (Carroll, OH) was 2-for-4 with a double in the loss for the RedStorm.
     The two teams wrap up their weekend series on Sunday with another doubleheader of seven-inning contests beginning at noon.