Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Despite their strikeout totals accumulating at an alarming rate, the University of Rio Grande baseball team still found itself with opportunities to win late in both ends of Saturday's River States Conference doubleheader against Indiana University Southeast.
Unfortunately, the RedStorm was unable to close out either comeback attempt.
The Grenadiers held on to nail down a 5-2 win in the opener and 5-3 triumph in the nightcap for a sweep of the twin bill at sun-splashed Bob Evans Field.
IU Southeast improved to 13-12 overall and 6-2 in conference play with the wins.
Rio Grande dropped to 9-18 overall and 3-5 in the RSC as a result of the two losses.
The RedStorm outhit their guests, 11-6, in game one, but struck out a staggering 18 times against three IUS pitchers.
Both teams finished with six hits in the seven-inning second game, but head coach Brad Warnimont's club fanned 14 more times against two more Grenadier hurlers.
The 32 combined strikeouts now have Rio Grande ranking fifth nationally with 229 strikeouts as a team over 27 games.
Still, though, the RedStorm were in each of Saturday's games right down to the final out.
In game one, IUS scored once in the first and three times in the sixth to take a 4-0 lead, but Rio Grande got a run-scoring infield hit by senior Austin Kendall (Troy, OH) in the home sixth and a solo home run by senior Angel Cruz (Santo Domingo, D.R.) in the bottom of the seventh to slice the deficit in half.
The RedStorm couldn't, however, finish the comeback after mounting a major scoring threat in the bottom of the eighth.
Junior Braeden Gaul (Huntington, WV) and senior Darius Jordan (Minford, OH) had consecutive one-out singles before Kendall was retired on a called third strike.
Senior Luke Lindamood (Minford, OH) followed with a single to left which loaded the bases and put the would-be tying runs in scoring position, but Cruz struck out to end the inning.
The Grenadiers tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth and Rio Grande went down in order in its final at bat.
Mason White homered, doubled and drove in two runs for IUS, while Logan Murphy also went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Luke Schafer allowed seven hits and a run over six innings, while walking two and striking out 11 for his fourth win in five decisions.
Garrett Hill allowed three hits, but struck out four over two innings of scoreless relief for his third save.
Sophomore Daewin Spence (Portsmouth, OH) allowed just three hits, but walked six and hit a batter over five innings in suffering the loss for Rio Grande.
Jordan finished 3-for-3 to lead the RedStorm offensively, while Lindamood and graduate senior AJ Thomas (Pickerington, OH) both had two hits each.
In game two. the Grenadiers again built a 4-0 cushion thanks to a pair of first inning runs and single markers in both the second and third.
Rio Grande got on the board in the bottom of the third thanks to a solo home run by Cruz and, after IUS scored once in the fourth, the RedStorm got a home run from junior Waskar Martinez (Santiago, D.R.) to make it 5-2.
Then came another seventh inning rally by the home team.
Freshman Omar Chirinos (Santa Rita City, Venezuela) and Gaul both reached on consecutive dropped flyballs to right to begin the frame and Jordan followed with a double down the third base line to make it 5-3 and put the would-be tying runs in scoring position with no outs.
Freshman pinch-hitter Samuel Colina (Maracaibo, Venezuela) then drew a walk to put the would-be winning run on, but Lindamood and Cruz both struck out swinging and Thomas grounded out to shortstop to end the game.
Luke Powell went 2-for-2 with a home run and three RBI for IU Southeast, while White was 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI.
Connor Sims picked up his second win in three decisions for the Grenadiers, allowing five hits and two runs with 12 strikeouts in six innings.
Kacey Cheek recorded the final three outs for his first save.
Redshirt freshman Evan Lewis (Carrolton, OH) started for Rio and suffered his third loss in five decisions, allowing six hits, a walk and five runs over four innings.
Cruz finished with two hits for the RedStorm.
The two teams will wrap up their weekend series on Sunday with a single nine-inning game beginning at noon.
