Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - As things turned out, the University of Rio Grande had just one late-game rally in its arsenal.
The RedStorm mounted an eighth-inning comeback to win game one, but came up one run shy in the back end of its River States Conference twin bill against Oakland City University, Monday afternoon, at Bob Evans Field.
Head coach Brad Warnimont's club erased a one-run eighth inning deficit to post a 7-3 win in the opener, while the Mighty Oaks held on late for 4-3 victory in the series wrapup.
Oakland City improved to 19-7 overall and 4-2 in league play as a result of the split.
Rio Grande finished the day at 9-16 overall and 3-3 in the RSC.
In the opening game, the RedStorm saw a 2-0 first inning lead vanish after the Mighty Oaks pushed across single runs in the second, seventh and eighth innings.
Then came the Rio eighth.
Senior Austin Kendall (Troy, OH) reached on a one-out single and then moved to second after fellow senior Angel Cruz (Santo Domingo, D.R.) drew a walk.
Junior Likeiry Jimenez (Reading, PA) followed with a double which plated Kendall with the tying run before junior Waskar Martinez (Santiago, D.R.) put the home team in front with an RBI single to left.
Graduate senior AJ Thomas (Pickerington, OH) greeted Blake Mincey - Oakland City's third pitcher of the contest - with another run-scoring hit to make it 5-3.
After a sacrifice bunt by freshman Omar Chirinos (Santa Rita City, Venezuela) moved Thomas to second and Martinez to third, sophomore Darwin Oleaga (Boston, MA) delivered a two-run single to right to complete the uprising.
The Mighty Oaks went down in order in the ninth.
Martinez finished 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, while senior Luke Lindamood (Minford, OH) had a double.
Sophomore Hayden Simon (Stouffville, Ontario, Canada) allowed an unearned run over three innings of relief for his third win in four decisions.
Junior starter Justin Anaya (Brownsville, TX) allowed a pair of unearned runs over six innings. He walked five and fanned five, while teaming with Simon on a two-hitter.
Tommy Johnson took the loss for Oakland City, surrendering three hits, a walk and four runs over just 1/3 of an inning.
Gehrig Tenhumberg started for the Oaks, allowing three hits and two runs over seven innings. He walked three and struck out 12.
Leyton Ivers had both hits and drove in both runs for Oakland City.
Game two saw the visitors score three times in the first inning and once in the fourth for a 4-0 advantage, but the RedStorm rallied for three runs in the fifth to get within a run.
Rio Grande put a runner on first base with one out in both the sixth and seventh inning, but failed to dent the plate with either the tying or winning runs.
Oliver Hamilton had a two-run single in the three-run first for OCU, while Fred Fernandez and JT Smallwood drove in one run each and Artem Logvinov had a double.
Benjamen Simmons earned his fifth win in as many decisions, allowing three hits and as many runs over 4-2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out six.
Mick Uebelhor earned his first save, allowing two hits and walk with two strikeouts over 2-1/3 innings.
Redshirt freshman Evan Lewis (Carrolton, OH) started and took the loss for Rio Grande. The left-hander allowed five hits and four runs - two earned - with two walks and three strikeouts over six innings.
Oleaga had two hits for the RedStorm, while Cruz had a two-run single and Chirinos had an RBI hit in the three-run fifth.
Rio Grande is scheduled to continue its homestand on Friday when it opens another RSC series against Indiana University Southeast.
First pitch is set for 2 p.m.
