AUBURNDALE, FLA. -- The Trine University baseball team continued its winning ways with a 7-5 victory against the Milwaukee School of Engineering at the Lake Myrtle Complex in Auburndale, Fla.
The Thunder accounted for 12 hits in the game and had four players who finished with a pair of hits. Junior Joe Fiorucci (St. Joseph, Mich./St. Joseph) was two-of-three with a run scored and two RBI. Juniors Shayne Devine (Valparaiso, Ind./Portage), A.J. Mitchell (Emmett, Mich./Kellogg CC) and freshman Adam Stefanelli (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North) all had two hits in four at-bats. Devine and Mitchell also added a run scored and Stefanelli tallied a RBI.
Five pitchers saw action for Trine with freshman Jake Shreiner (Bristol, Ind./Elkhart Central) getting the start and going three and two-thirds innings. He allowed three runs, one earned, and had a strikeout. Sophomore Austin Nuessgen (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) ended up as the pitcher of record pitching an inning-and-a-third allowing no runs or hits and struck out two batters. Senior Caleb Deiter (Whiteland, Ind./Whiteland Community) pitched the final inning to record his third save of the season pitching a perfect top of the ninth with a pair of strikeouts.
MSOE (4-3) took an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. Trine (7-2) scored its first runs of the game in its half of the second inning when the Thunder crossed home plate three times on a two-run base hit by Fiorucci and then another RBI-single later in the inning, this time by Rivet, to make the score, 3-1, in favor of Trine.
The two teams traded runs in the fourth with Trine's run coming off the bat of Stefanelli who scored senior Jake Roddy (Angola, Ind./Angola) and kept the Thunder's lead at two runs, 4-3.
The Raiders then regained the lead in the fifth with two runs that included a RBI-triple to make it a 5-4 game. But the lead didn't last long as Trine tallied three runs in the bottom of the inning that saw two runs cross home plate thanks to a defensive error on a sacrifice bunt attempt by senior Chase Hall (Orleans, Ind./Orleans) and then a RBI-single by sophomore Brenden Warner (Richland, Mich./Hackett Catholic Prep) that put the Thunder back out in front by a 7-5 margin.
The combination of senior Tony Bottone (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Luers) and Deiter on the mound helped lead the Trine defense keep MSOE from scoring any more runs the rest of the way as Trine went on to the 7-5 final.
Trine will play its final games of its spring Florida trip with a doubleheader against Grove City (Pa.) College tomorrow (Friday, Mar. 6) at Lake Myrtle Complex in Auburndale, Fla. The first game is set to start at 9:30 a.m.