Rio Grande Sports Information
OWENSBORO, Ky. - The University of Rio Grande scored five times over its final three at bats and pulled away for a 9-4 win over host Brescia University in the opening game of their Sunday afternoon River States Conference baseball doubleheader at Kamuf Park.
The host Bearcats avoided a sweep of the doubleheader and the weekend series by hanging on for an 8-6 triumph in the nightcap.
Rio Grande finished the weekend at 8-14 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
The split left Brescia at 5-14 overall and 1-2 inside the RSC.
The RedStorm took a scant 4-3 lead into the seventh inning of the opener, but scored once in both the seventh and eighth innings and added three more markers in the ninth inning to pull away.
Senior Angel Cruz (Santo Domingo, D.R.) had a run-scoring groundout in the seventh, senior Darius Jordan (Minford, OH) drove in the eighth inning run on a fielder's choice grounder to shortstop and junior Likeiry Jimenez (Reading, PA) had a two-run double to highlight the three-run ninth.
Junior Justin Anaya (Brownsville, TX) started and got his first win in a Rio uniform, allowing seven hits and three runs over 5-2/3 innings. He also walked four and fanned six batters.
Senior Luke Lindamood (Minford, OH) led the RedStorm's offensive 16-hit attack by going 4-for-5, while graduate senior AJ Thomas (Pickerington, OH) had three hits, including a double, and an RBI.
Jimenez was 2-for-5 and had three RBI, while Cruz had two hits and two RBI, junior Waskar Martinez (Santiago, D.R.) was 2-for-3 with a double and a run batted in and freshman Omar Chirinos (Santa Rita City, Venezuela) was 2-for-5.
Manning Webb started and lost for Brescia, surrendering seven hits and four runs - two earned - over five innings.
Bryce Gamble, Cason Troutman and Cole Troutman all had two hits in the loss, while Kendal Kortz hit a solo home run and Jonathon Foti doubled and drove in a run.
In the nightcap, Brescia opened up a 5-1 advantage after four innings and survived a pair of Rio rallies down the stretch for the win.
The RedStorm scored three times in the fifth to close within 5-4 and, after the Bearcats got two of the runs back in the fifth to extend their lead to 7-4, added two more markers in the sixth to make it 7-6.
Brescia scored once in the bottom of the sixth for a two-run cushion and, while Rio got the would-be tying run to the plate with two outs in the seventh, Preston Franey struck out sophomore Darwin Oleaga (Boston, MA) looking for the game's final out.
Gavin Huebner had three hits, including a double, while Mikey Clements finished 3-for-3 with a run batted in and Darian Pretorious was 2-for-3 with a double and four RBI in the winning effort.
Demarco Miller tripled, doubled and drove in one for the Bearcats.
Ashton Farris, the second of six Bearcat pitchers, earned the win with one shutout inning, while Franey picked up a save by recording the final out.
Redshirt freshman Evan Lewis (Carrollton, OH) started and lost for Rio Grande, allowing six hits and four runs over three innings.
Lindamood finished 2-for-2 with a double and Cruz had two hits and two RBI to pace the RedStorm at the plate.
Thomas also had two RBI in the loss.
Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Friday afternoon when it hosts Oakland City University in the opening game of a three-game weekend series at Bob Evans Field.
First pitch is set for 2 p.m.
