Power at the Plate Leads No. 17 Racers

LIMA, Ohio – The University of Northwestern Ohio baseball team hosted the Rochester College Warriors in a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon as the Racers looked to extend its presence at the top of the conference standings.

Rochester (5-13, 3-8 WHAC) battled the No. 17 Racers (22-10, 13-1 WHAC) early on, but UNOH used big innings in each contest to force back-to-back seven inning finishes. The Racers took game one 17-5 before claiming a 19-7 victory in the second contest.

In the opener, UNOH found itself trailing 3-1 after three-run frame by the Warriors in the third. However, the Racers would reclaim the lead with four runs in the fourth which was led-off with an Erich Gonzalez solo homer. The teams then traded a run in the fifth before the Racers bats found a rhythm in the sixth while RC also struggled in the field.

The Racers put across 11 runs in the inning to put the Warriors one the verge of early defeat with a 17-4 Racer lead. DayFran Ortiz got thing rolling with a lead-off single before Felix Correa added pressure with a pinch-run stolen base. A misplayed Kyle Fisher popup then put all of the momentum on the Racers' side.

The sixth inning had many highlight-worthy at bats including a RBI triple by Gonzalez and a three-run home run by Jose Paulino.

Damon Proctor (7-0) earned the win with 5.0 innings pitched while striking out four batters and allowing four runs. Steven Amos replaced Proctor in the sixth and threw 2.0 innings of two-hit, one-run relief and struck out three batters.

Game two opened with both teams claiming a run in the opening inning. RC led the game off with an Austin Kunert double before he was eventually scored on a sacrifice fly. Jeff Cardenas responded with a two-out solo home run to right field to even the score.

UNOH then provided an impressive four-run second inning to claim a 5-1 lead early on. Both sides were held scored in the third and fourth before the Warriors broke the brief drought with a RBI single to center.

However, Rochester opened the floodgates for the Racer offense as UNOH scored a massive 14 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Correa led the inning off with a walk, and Blake Maines sure made the Warriors pay as he ripped a towering home run over the batter's eye in dead center field. Two pitching changes later saw the Racers put across 12 more runs with 11 total hits and one error in the inning.

RC scored five unanswered runs in the sixth and seventh, but UNOH's lead was too large as the Racers picked up the 19-7 triumph.

UNOH totaled 14 extra base hits on the afternoon with four home runs and three triples.

Kyle Thomas (4-1) went 5.0 innings in the start and allowed two runs on three hits. Enty Lourens, Caden Pratt, and Ryan Mahaffey combined for 2.0 innings of relief.

UNOH and Rochester return to action on Saturday morning with a 10 AM start time at Racer Field.