The Ashland University baseball team traveled North to take on the Lake Erie Storm in a four-game league series. The series started with a doubleheader on Thursday, April 17 and ended with another doubleheader on Friday.
The Eagles entered the series with a 16-4 record in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), while the Storm came in with a 10-10 record. Th first game started with two scoreless innings, but the runs started with a score by the Eagles on a wild pitch and then another run on an RBI single by senior third baseman, Jeremiah Cangelosi, to take a 2-0 lead in the third. The Eagles kept their momentum going in the fourth with an RBI triple by junior left fielder, Billy Howard.
The game was blown wide open in the sixth inning by the Eagles when graduate designated hitter Max Caron hit an RBI single which was immediately followed by a two-RBI double by junior first baseman, Sam Witt, which made it a 7-0 ballgame. The Eagles would go on to take the first game 9-0 and pitcher Griffin Ailes gets his second win of the year after going six innings with no runs allowed.
Game two was off to a pitching stalemate for the first three innings with hits by either team. Then in the fourth inning, Caron was able to get home for the first run of the game on an error by Lake Erie. Then Ashland would take a 2-0 lead after a fielder’s choice which gave Witt an RBI. The Storm wasn’t down for much longer as they were able to tie it up in the seventh inning to take the game to extra innings.
The Eagles were able to take it back on an RBI triple by senior outfielder, Cam Miller, to maintain a 3-2 lead in the eighth. Lake Erie quickly came back and scored almost immediately to tie it up 3-3 but they missed their opportunity to score more as they left two on base. Ashland scored another run in the ninth and final inning to take a 4-3 lead, but it wouldn’t last long as the Storm would score on an RBI single and walked off the Eagles with another run as Ashland took the loss 5-4 in nine innings.
Game three was all Ashland to start as they started with a run in the first and two more in the second for a 3-0 lead. Then the Eagles were able to extend the lead even more with four runs in the fourth inning after two of those runs were scored on an error by Lake Erie. The Storm didn’t score their first run until the sixth inning to make it a 7-1 game, but it ultimately wouldn’t be enough as the Eagles would three more in the last frame to capture the win 10-3.
In the final game of the series, Ashland was looking to build off their momentum, while Lake Erie wanted to get the win to even it up 2-2. Witt was able to get the game started off with an RBI single in the first frame to take a 1-0 lead. Lake Erie was able to come back in the third inning with an RBI single to tie the game at one. Caron was able to drive in two runs on a double in the very next inning which was followed by a sacrifice fly for Witt in the next at-bat. Ashland now held a 4-1 lead in the fourth.
Then, junior shortstop Collin Overholt hit a one-run dinger, which was the first in the entire series. Lake Erie would then score a run on an RBI double which made it a 5-2 game. Ashland would start to pad their lead in the seventh inning, starting with another homerun by Overholt. They would score another three runs in that inning, all on walks, to take a 9-2 lead. Lake Erie made a valiant effort to comeback but came up short and the game ended in a 9-6 Ashland win.
As of Thursday, April 24 the Eagles sit at 30-12 overall and 19-5 in conference play. They’re two series games away from playing in G-MAC play from Wednesday, May 7 to Saturday, May 10.
