Cougars Split Double-Header Against Rio Grande

(Rio Grande, OH)-- The Cleary Cougars baseball team took a split against Rio Grande on the second day of their weekend trip. They would go on to win the first game but unfortunately dropped the second. 

In Game 1: The Cougars would start things off in the top of the 2nd inning loading the bases with no outs. A walk for Marcel Garcia would score Caleb Buda for the game's first run. Gavin Kempainen would then single to left field to score Juan Munoz. Sam Browne would then hit a ball to the right fielder that was dropped scoring Marcel Garcia and Gavin Kempainen to make the lead 4-0. The offense wouldn't stop there as Caleb Buda would reach on an error by the shortstop letting Brice Wesley score on the play. The Cougars would strike again in the 4th inning as Max Tomaszewski hit a sacrifice fly to score Sam Browne. The Cougars held a 7-0 lead going into the 5th inning before Rio Grande would attempt to push back. Rio Grande would score 2 runs in the 5th and 3 more runs in the 6th inning to make it 7-5. Pitcher Jack Westerhoff would make his Cougar debut late in the game throwing the final 1.2 innings and picking up his first save of the season.

Will Roberts made his first start as a Cougar gathering his first win of the season as well. He finished with 4.2 innings pitched allowing 2 runs while striking out 6 batters. 

In Game 2: The last game of the weekend proved to be a slow start for both teams. The Cougars would strike first in the 4th inning after Max Tomaszewski hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Kristian Scalf. It was all Rio Grande from there as they would score 4 of their own in the bottom of the inning making it a 4-1 ballgame. Rio Grande would tack on another run in the 5th to make it 5-1. Spencer Jamieson would attempt to start a rally for the boys when he singled to center field scoring Caleb Buda to make the game 5-2 but that was all that was left in the tank for the Cougars. Rio Grande would put up two more runs in the 6th inning making it 7-2 and that score would stick for the final. 

Jacob Savina made his season debut but would suffer the loss on the mound. Josh Lucier and Joey Underwood would make their Cougar debut in this game as well. 

After two weekends of baseball, the Cougars are now 2-4 overall. They will take a weekend off before returning to the diamond on Friday, March 1st against Cumberland University in Tennessee. First pitch will be scheduled for 2:00 PM EST (1:00 PM CST).