ALBION, MICH.—After dropping game one, the Trine baseball team went to extras to earn the game two victory and the split with Albion Saturday afternoon at Frank Joranko Field.
Jordan Baer's (Fort Wayne, Ind./Leo) two-run homer in the top of the ninth lifted the Thunder to the 10-8 victory in game two after the Brits had taken game one, 3-1. Baer's game-winning bomb capped a big day for the junior, who finished with six hits and three RBI's. He was retired just once on the afternoon and also stole a pair of bases. Kyle Auernhamer (Vassar, Mich./Vassar) launched his first-career homer and drove in three as part of a two-hit day. Ethan Prebynski (Auburn, Ind./DeKalb) finished with five hits, three stolen bases and an RBI. The game two win was Trine's first at Albion since Mar. 26, 2010 and snapped an eight-game losing streak for the Thunder at Joranko Field. Trine moves to 7-7 overall, 2-2 in the MIAA. Albion is 6-10 overall, 2-4 in the conference.
Game One: Albion 3, Trine 1
Craig Cownway shut down the Trine bats through six innings and the Britons got a couple timely hits to earn the 3-1 win.
Conway scattered three hits, walked three and struck out five over six innings to earn the victory to improve to 1-1 on the season. Gunnar Owens struggled in the seventh, but was able to earn his second save of the season.
Spencer Bonofiglio and Kyle Kowal each picked up RBI's for the Britons in a two-run fourth. Albion also scored an unearned run in the bottom of the second.
Prebynski knocked in Trine's only run with an RBI-single in the top of the seventh. Jeremy Spalding (Toledo, Ohio/Toledo Central Catholic) was tagged with the loss, despite a solid performance in which he allowed two earned runs on five hits over 5.1 innings.
Game Two: Trine 10, Albion 8
Baer's two-run homer capped a back-and-forth contest and gave Trine their third win in extra-innings this season.
The Thunder had blown open a tie game with a five-run fifth to take a 7-2 lead. The first two runs scored when a booted ball allowed Prebynski and Zach Thorn (Portage, Ind./Portage) to score. Baer followed with a double to deep center to score Andrew DeGood. Auernhamer closed off the Thunder rally with a line-drive two-run bomb to left.
After a single run in the bottom of the inning, the Brits came back with four in the bottom of the sixth to tie the score. All of the damage in the inning was done with two outs. Shane Lindemann's double down the left field line tied the score at seven-apiece.
Pinch-runner Jake Kendall (New Castle, Ind./New Castle) came in to score on a throwing error off a stolen-base attempt to give Trine the lead in the top of the seventh. The Britons answered with a Brendan Diam RBI-single in the bottom of the frame.
A walk drawn by Thorn set the stage for Baer's bomb. The towering blast to dead center gave the Thunder the deciding 10-8 advantage.
Luke Porter (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) picked up the victory with 3.1 innings of relief work. The freshman allowed a run on three hits, walked two and struck out two to improve to 2-1 on the season. Trine is now 3-1 in extra-inning games this season.
Zach Maresh was tagged with the loss for Albion. Lindemann was a perfect 3-3 with two RBI's after entering the game as a pinch-hitter.
The two teams will conclude the MIAA-series tomorrow when they will play a doubleheader at Trine University's Jannen Field beginning at 1:00 p.m.