LAKE MYRTLE, Fla. – The Trine University baseball team continued their spring break trip on Wednesday afternoon with a nine-inning game versus Dominican University. The Stars were able to topple the Thunder 17-13 as the pitching staffs began to deplete. Trine and Dominican are both 4-4 this season.
In the first inning, Hunter Niksch worked around a leadoff walk for a scoreless inning and the offense was able to give him run support right away. Matthew Martin slugged the first homerun of the 2023 season for the Thunder to plate himself and Adam Stefanelli while Robert Kortas drove in Dalton Nikirk with an RBI double to make it 3-0.
The teams traded runs in the second as Nikirk drove in Daniel Rumberger for the home squad. Unfortunately, three hits for Dominican, all doubles, would tie the game up at four apiece. Tyler Beyke doubled with two away in the third and Preston Henschen drew a walk followed by a Rumberger RBI single to retake the lead.
The Stars were able to string together crooked numbers in both the fourth and fifth innings to take a commanding lead. Seven runs chased Niksch from the game and four more runs on a pair of relievers put the score at 11-8 through five. In the sixth inning, both teams went scoreless for the first time and only time all day as Dominic Skinner got out of a bases loaded jam.
A two-run homerun for Domincan put the score at 13-8, but Trine continued to battle and three runs crossed the plate in the bottom of the seventh. A passed ball resulted in the first run of the inning and a groundout by Kortas scratched across a second run. Easton Rhodes supplied a two-out RBI single to complete the frame.
A two-out rally for the Stars in the eighth put three more runs on the board that went unanswered by the Thunder. Dominican tacked on one more in the top of the ninth to go up 17-11. Nikirk singled to leadoff the bottom half of the inning and Kortas went yard to get to the 17-13 final.
From the leadoff spot, Stefanelli reached base five times in the game with three hits and two walks. Martin and Kortas had three hits as well to tie for the team lead. The designated hitter Kortas had a team-high five RBIs and pitched an inning for the team as well. Multiple hits were also credited to Nikirk, Rhodes, Beyke and Rumberger. Rylan McBride (0-1) received the loss.
Trine will take on Waynesburg University on Thursday, March 9 beginning at 1:30 p.m.