Cornerstone Offense Too Much for Cougars to Handle

(Grand Rapids, MI) -- The Cleary Cougars baseball team took a trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan today to finish up their 4-game road series against the Cornerstone University Golden Eagles. 

In Game 1:  Caleb Buda would get things started for the Cougars with an infield single. Sam Browne would step up to the plate a few batters later and hit a 2-out double that would score Caleb Buda giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Cornerstone would quickly strike back scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the inning, and then add 4 more runs making it a 6-1 ballgame after 2 innings of play. The Golden Eagles would add 2 more runs in the 5th inning before the Cougars would begin to fight back. The Cougars would pick up 1 run in the 6th inning off of a single by Albert Gonzalez that scored Sam Browne. Cornerstone added 2 more in the bottom half of the inning to pull away with the lead even more. In the 7th inning and looking for a spark, Brice Wesley would step to the plate and hit a home run to center field, his first home run on the season. The Cougars would manage to get the bases loaded after this but would get shut down on back-to-back strikeouts to end the ballgame leaving the final score 10-3 in favor of the Golden Eagles. 

Marty McDonald (1-5) would get the start for the Cougars on the mound and allow 5 runs in 1.0 innings. Ryan Lieng would pitch 4.0 innings in this game as well, his longest outing of the season. 

In Game 2: The first 2 innings of the game would go back and forth with only 3 hits combined between the two teams. In the 3rd inning, the Cougars would break through first. A sacrifice bunt by Caleb Buda would set the Cougars up with runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Ben Cerven would then hit a sacrifice fly to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Cornerstone would soon respond in the 4th inning with an RBI single, and later in the inning a solo home run, putting the Cougars in a 2-1 deficit. Cornerstone would build their lead in the 6th inning with a 3-run home run to give them a 5-1 lead. In the top of the 7th inning, a walk for Max Tomeszewski would set up a 2-run home run for Brice Wesley, his second home run on the day. The Cougars couldn't manage any more offense in the 8th or 9th innings leaving them with a 5-3 loss. 

Jacob Savina (0-4) would allow 5 runs off of 10 hits in 5.1 innings pitched. Kyle Downard would make his Cougar and season debut on the mound going 2.2 innings pitched with 3 strikeouts while only allowing 1 hit. 

The Cougars drop to 8-19 overall and 6-10 in WHAC conference play this year. They now drop to 9th in the WHAC Conference and look to jump a few spots next week. The Cougars will be back on the diamond on Monday, April 8 with a non-conference matchup with Grace Christian University. The boys will look to play a doubleheader under the lights with the first pitch for Game 1 set for 4:00 PM.