The Ashland University baseball team has gone 6-2 since April 7, including a split against Lake Erie, taking three out of four against Ohio Dominican and a sweep against Mount Vernon Nazarene University.

   Senior Evan Melendez wreaked havoc on opposing pitchers as well as the base paths, while junior Aaron Hilt earned two wins; one in a relief effort and the other in shutout fashion.

Lake Erie

   Against Lake Erie, Eric Vaughan took the mound at Donges Field going four innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits. Vaughn couldn’t escape the loss once he was replaced by Joe Malfara. Malfara finished the game off, going the final three innings allowing two more Storm runs (one earned).

   No Eagle batter had more than one hit in the first game of the doubleheader. Ashland left six batters on base in the contest. Lake Erie’s Glenn Steward pitched all seven innings, shutting out AU, 6-0.

   The second game took ten innings and was won in dramatic fashion thanks to a fielding error, allowing Melendez to score.

   The action started in the eighth inning when Lake Erie plated a run, putting the Storm up, 4-3. Needing to score in order to continue, Melendez took matters into his own hands by stealing second after his one out base hit. Junior Mitch Klein sent a pitch into the outfield, allowing Melendez to score and tying the game at 4-4.

   Senior leader Ryan Avery then led off the ninth inning with a double that nearly found its way over the left field fence. Unfortunately for Avery and the Eagles, the old hidden ball trick put on by Storm shortstop Ryan Rua eliminated any chance of Avery advancing.

   A quiet Lake Erie top of the tenth allowed AU to come back and win the second game of the twin bill. Melendez was hit by a pitch with one out, allowing him to eventually take second easily. From there, a single into the outfield sealed the deal as Melendez crossed home plate, giving AU the 5-4 win.

   Ashland pitchers held the league’s seventh-leading hitter, Rua, to hit only 2-for-7 with two walks.

Ohio Dominican

   At Ohio Dominican, starting pitchers Ajay Meyer and Hilt pitched the first two games, each earning complete game shutouts. The two combined to only give up six hits allowing the Eagles to cruise to wins of 3-0 and 8-0.

   All the runs scored in the first game came in the second inning. Avery led off with a walk and eventually scored on a fielder’s choice. A walk by Matt McAllester loaded the bases for the second time in the inning and Melendez struck again with a two-out RBI single up the middle allowing two more Eagles to score. Meyer took the mound in the bottom of the second with a 3-0 cushion and never looked back.

   Klein led the Eagles at the plate going 2-for-3 while Ethan Houck, Avery and Matt Gundlach plated runs for AU.

    Meyer (6-1) has completed all seven games that he has started this season and with this win, lowered his ERA to 0.98. Meyer has frustrated batters all season as opponents are hitting at a clip of .178 against the right-hander.

   Ashland split the doubleheader the following day (April 10), dropping the first game 9-7 and picking up the 14-0 victory in the concluding ODU game.

   ODU consistently put runs on the board in game one of the second doubleheader, scoring two in the first, two in the second, one in the third and four in the fifth. Ashland took a different approach, scoring all seven of their runs in the top of the sixth inning.

   Down 9-0 in the sixth inning, AU attempted the comeback that no one thought was possible. Sadly for the Eagles, it wasn’t. Klein continued clobbering the ball by hitting an RBI double down the left field line, scoring two AU runners. Two pinch hitters, two hit batsmen and an RBI single later, Ashland had scored two more runs, making the score 9-4.

   Melendez struck yet again with another RBI single scoring both Gundlach and freshman catcher Michael Manser. Down by three, the Eagles were only able to muster another run off a John Kuzio RBI single.

   The fourth game in two days for AU was more of a hitting display than anything else. The Eagles scored multiple runs in the first, third, sixth and seventh innings on their way to 18 hits.

   McAllester, Melendez, Klein, Shayne Herold and Gundlach all had a multi-hit game. McAllester and Klein led the way with four hits apiece.

   Defensively, the infield for AU turned four double plays, two of which ended their respective innings. Vaughan (2-2) dealt all seven innings, allowing four hits and three walks. The junior pitched his first complete game of the season and lowered his ERA to 4.18.

Mount Vernon Nazarene

   Tuesday, April 11, Ashland played another doubleheader, taking the first game, 3-1 and the second game, 5-4. The Eagles’ record now sits at 18-11, 7-7 GLIAC.

   Joe Malfara took the mound for Ashland in game one and went five strong innings, giving up five hits and surrendering only one run (unearned) while striking out five.

   AU took a one-run lead in the bottom of the second inning when Austin Erb led off the inning with a single and scored off a sacrifice fly by Herold. Two more runs were tacked on the following inning when Ashland led off another inning with a base hit. Tyler Gray doubled, scoring Ethan Houck for the 2-0 lead followed by an Erb RBI single scoring Gray.

   Mount Vernon Nazarene (20-11) put a run on the board in the sixth by way of an RBI single scoring the runner from third.

   Despite being outhit, Ashland left only four runners on base compared to MVN’s nine runners left on the base paths.

   Malfara picked up the win (1-1). Pinkleman pitched the last two innings earning his third save on the season.

   Cole Hudson got the no decision in game two while Meyer came in to pitch the final inning of Ashland’s 5-4 win. AU overcame five errors to win the contest.

   Ashland will face Saginaw Valley State Saturday, April 16. The teams are scheduled to play two doubleheaders concluding on April 17th.