By Sports Information Student Assistant Caitlin Reynolds
ANGOLA, Ind. - The Trine University Baseball team came away with two big victories against visiting MIAA conference rival Alma, winning 3-2 and 5-2 respectively. The two wins put the Thunder at 10-9 on the season and 6-4 in the closely contested conference season.
The majority scoring for both teams was done in the first two innings, as Trine opened things up with a run in the bottom of the first of game one. Alma would answer back with one in the second, before the Thunder put up two more in the bottom half of that inning. Alma would put one more up in the seventh, but it was too little too late.
Sophomore R. J. Flowers (Hamilton, Mich./Hamilton) started things off with a one-out bunt single, steal second and then advance to third on a passed ball. Senior Tom Wilder (Petersburg, Mich./Summerfield) hit Flowers in with a two-out RBI double to right center.
The Scots would tie things up in the top of the second inning.
Trine would take the lead again in the bottom of the second and never relinquished it. Junior Andrew DeGood (Hamilton, Mich./Hamilton) reached on an error and advanced to second on a ground out. DeGood would then move to third on a bunt single from fellow Junior Adam Sullivan (Fort Wayne, Ind./Elmhurst), who advanced himself to second with a stolen base. They would both be knocked in by a double from freshman Carter Stafford (Waterloo, Ind./DeKalb).
Alma put another run on the board in the top of the seventh, but the Thunder defense would hold them to just that single run to finish out the game.
Senior Phil Stakely (Ostrander, Ohio/Buckeye Valley) got his second win for the season on the mound, pitching 5 2/3 innings, giving up just four hits and one earned run, while striking out four. Senior Nick Cocanower (Elkhart, Ind./Concord) would come on in relief pitching 1 1/3 innings to earn his fifth save of the season.
The Thunder opened up the scoring in the second game of the double header as well, as they put up three runs in the second inning, and added one more in the third. Alma answered back in the fourth plating two runs of their own, before Trine put up one more run in the bottom of the fifth to finish the scoring out.
DeGood would get things started again with a single to center. Sophomore Devin Copple (New Albany, Ind./Providence) would follow with a walk and freshman Kory Shackle (Butler, Ohio/Mount Vernon) would reach on an error to load the bases. All three would be brought in with an RBI triple from Stafford, the first of his college career.
After Alma went down in order in the top of the third, the Thunder would plate another run, started by a walk from senior Matt Zurbriggen (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point), and he would then move to second on a wild pitch. After another walk, the Scots would have a failed pickoff attempt, as the pitcher overthrew first allowing Zurbriggen to come all the way around to score from second.
Alma answered right back with two runs off of four hits in the top of the fourth inning to bring the score to 4-2, but that was as close as they would get.
Trine put another run on the board for good measure in the bottom of the fifth, as Flowers started things off with a single to left center. sophomore would move to second on an attempted sacrifice bunt by sophomore Ethan Prebynski (Auburn, Ind./DeKalb) who would reach on a throwing error that would send him to second and Flowers to third. After a walk to load the bases, Zurbriggen would come up with a sacrifice fly to right, allowing Flowers to score.
Sophomore Jakeb Briscoe (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) earned the victory in game two, pitching five innings and giving up just two runs and racking up three strikeouts. Senior Kyle Lidster (Griffith, Ind./Griffith) earned his first save of the year, pitching two scoreless innings in relief.
Stafford led the Thunder offense on the day with two hits and a team leading five RBIs. Flowers added two hits of his own, and both Wilder and Zurbriggen chipped in with a hit and an RBI apiece. Other Trine players with a hit on the day were sophomore Jordan Baer (Fort Wayne, Ind./Leo), Sullivan, DeGood and Shackle.
Trine will be back in action tomorrow with a doubleheader at Alma to finish out the series with the first game beginning at 1:00 p.m.
