Oakland City walks off RedStorm for series sweep

Rio Grande Sports Information
     HUNTINGBURG, Ind. - Aron Busick drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Oakland City University a 2-1 win over the University of Rio Grande and a series sweep of the RedStorm in River States Conference baseball action, Monday afternoon, at League Stadium.
     The Mighty Oaks improved to 20-8 overall and 4-5 in league play with the victory, pushing past Rio Grande in the RSC standings.
     The RedStorm suffered their fifth straight setback - all in-conference - in falling to 10-17 overall and 3-6 in the RSC.
     Oakland City grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Xander Willis singled with two outs, stole second and scored moments later when Jared Kirkman's grounder to shortstop was errored.
     Rio Grande pushed across the equalizer in the top of the fourth when junior Daniel Rutherford (Coal Grove, OH) reached second on an errant throw, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by graduate senior Andrew Daria (Villa Hills, KY) and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by junior Trey Carter (Wheelersburg, OH).
     The RedStorm also managed to put runners in scoring position in the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings, but were unable to dent the plate with the go-ahead marker.
     Senior Clayton Surrell (Carroll, OH) doubled with two outs in the fifth and was left stranded, while junior AJ Thomas (Pickerington, OH) led off the sixth with a single and reached third with one out but didn't score.
     In the eighth, junior Jakob Johnson (Pickerington, OH) walked with one out and Thomas followed with a single to center, but freshman courtesy runner Andy Amstutz (Kettering, OH) was picked off of second base and Rutherford flied to right for the final out.
     Carter and junior Darius Jordan (Minford, OH) had back-to-back one-out singles in the ninth, but each of the next two batters were retired routinely, setting up the fateful bottom half of the inning.
     Junior reliever Lane Mettler (Bainbridge, OH) struck out Treven Madden to begin the inning, but then issued consecutive walks to Sam Pinckert and Oliver Hamilton. Willis then struck out before pinch-hitter Alec Pruitt was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
     Mettler then walked Busick on four straight pitches, forcing home Pinckert with the winning run.
     Evan Price earned the win in relief for the Mighty Oaks, allowing three hits and walk while striking out one over two scoreless innings.
     Rio Grande got strong pitching outings by its starter, Surrell, and from freshman Daewin Spence (Portsmouth, OH).
     Surrell allowed five hits, a walk and an unearned run while striking out three over four innings. Spence fanned five over four shutout innings, including all three batters on just 10 pitches in the sixth inning.
     Thomas finished 3-for-4 and Jordan had two hits for the RedStorm, while Surrell and senior John Arcaro (Trinity, FL) both had doubles.
     Rio Grande's scheduled non-conference home date with Bluefield (Va.) University has been canceled and the RedStorm will return to action this weekend, at home, against Midway University.
     Currently, the games are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, but are likely to be shifted due to the forecast of inclement weather.