Saturday brought a long day of baseball as the Eagles hosted two victories against the Wayne State Warriors at Donges Field. After seven hours of gameplay for both teams, Ashland University extended their overall season record to 32-14.

After a long-lasting seven-inning 12-8 Ashland victory over the Warriors in game one, both teams went into the second game of the series ready to play. The Eagles followed that up with a 10-7 victory in game two.

Wayne State freshman Bradley Baldwin gave Wayne State an early lead with a two-run homer in the first inning.

Ashland answered back with six runs of their own in the same inning. Among them was a deep 3-RBI- double by Ashland’s freshman catcher Ryan Lowe.

Following his successful at bat, however, Lowe had a rough start in the second game when he accumulated a couple of errors in the top of the second inning. After missing a pitch, the behind-the-plate umpire suffered an injury, causing him to go down in the dirt for a short period of time. After re-gaining himself, Lowe then committed catcher’s interference.

After several sluggish innings at the start of the ball-game, Ashland and Wayne State remained neck and neck—especially on two separate occasions when they were tied (first at six runs, then at seven).

All in all, AU Head Coach John Schaly was pleased with the wins.

“Two good wins for us,” Schaly said. “Wayne is a good team. They are going to be in the conference tournament. A little sketchy, but we got the big outs when we needed to.”

What remained additionally impressive was Ashland’s junior closer Alex Smith who closed out both games on Saturday, earning his eighth and ninth saves on the season.

“He might lead the league in saves now,” Schaly said. “He’s been great all year as a closer. Guys have confidence when he comes in. He’s going to shut the door down.”

Somewhat unusual was the fact that in Smith’s arrival during the top of the eighth inning in game two, he was wearing a different jersey. Specifically, he was sporting the number 5 (instead of his usual 15). It certainly was Smith, however, and not Art Warren, the usual number 5 bearer—who will start on Sunday when the Eagles host the Warriors again.

The Eagles scored an additional two runs in the bottom of eighth, including a triple by junior Nick Edwards and a pair of RBI singles by juniors Mike Lewandowski and Mackenzie Hampshire.

At the start of the ninth inning, the Warriors could not score any runs, bringing an end to a long day of baseball.

“[AU Pitchers] Art Warren and Vince Frate are starting tomorrow,” said Schaly at the conclusion of Saturday’s doubleheader. “We’re looking to win the conference regular season championship. We are a game ahead of Grand Valley now. We are going out to win the league.”

After hosting Wayne State for two more regular-season games on Sunday, the Eagles will start post-season GLIAC tournament play on May 7 in Xenia.