No. 20 Racers Take Pair of WHAC Contests
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The NAIA No. 20 University of Northwestern Ohio baseball team traveled to Ann Arbor for a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference doubleheader as the Racers took on the Concordia University Cardinals.
Early offense powered the Racers (19-10, 10-1 WHAC) in game one as a late rally led UNOH past CUAA (22-7, 7-4 WHAC) in the second round.
Kyle Fisher got things going with a leadoff single before applying pressure with a steal. A Jose Paulino double scored Fisher on the ensuing at-bat while Paulino was drove in by a James Cardona double later in the inning.
UNOH struck again in the third with three runs before adding the sixth in the top of the fourth. The Cardinals made up minor ground in the bottom of the fourth with one run, but the Racers drove in three more in the fifth.
UNOH scored once in the sixth and again in the seventh to make it 11-1 heading into the bottom of the half of the inning. The Cardinals attempted a late rally, but the Racer defense allowed just two runs before securing the victory with shutout frames in the eighth and ninth innings.
Damon Proctor (6-0) kept his perfect season rolling on the mound with a six-inning start, striking out five and allowing just one run off of four hits. Abrahan Flete provided 3.0 innings of three-hit, two-run relief.
The Cardinals put the first run across in the second contest in the third inning, but a leadoff homer by Paulino in the fourth returned the game to an even score. However, CUAA scored the next three runs to claim a 4-1 lead heading into the sixth inning.
A sacrifice fly by Jeff Cardenas in the sixth inning scored Fisher to narrow the margin, but the Racers still found themselves trailing by two runs come the eighth inning.
It was then when the Racers capitalized on a pitching change to even the score with a RBI triple by Jonathan Rodriguez and RBI single by Cardenas in back-to-back at-bats. A second pitching change was quick to be made, but Cardenas eventually scored on an Erich Gonzalez sacrifice bunt.
Rodriguez provided an insurance run with a RBI double in the ninth which scored Carlos Baerga, Jr. from second base.
Mike Alexander (3-2) earned the win with a one-hit shutout performance through 4.0 innings on the mound. He struck out six batters which included three straight in the bottom of the ninth to secure the victory. Making the start, Kyle Thomas struck out five batters.
The Racers' next outing is slated for a weekend conference series against Rochester College. The two teams open the three-game schedule with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 25 in Lima.