AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Trine University baseball team pulled off a sweep on Wednesday against North Central University of Minnesota thanks to a late-inning rally in game two of the series. The Thunder were ahead early in game one, but needed a run in the bottom of the sixth to pick up the victory while in game two, the team trailed 6-1 at one point and stormed all the way back to win.
Trine advances to 4-2 overall in the 2024 season with the wins while North Central falls to 1-6 on the year.
GAME ONE RECAP:
The Thunder got game one started on the right foot with a two-out RBI double by Nathan Gilmet to give Trine an early lead. A Daniel Rumberger walk and Joel Walton single put two on base for the catcher to drive in later in the bottom of the first.
Starting pitcher Will Gimbel twirled a 1-2-3 second inning and kept the zero on the scoreboard after he allowed three hits in the third thanks to a successful pick off move. The sophomore Gimbel would retire the side in the fourth as well, but two crossed the plate for North Central in the top of the fifth to tie the ballgame at 2-2.
Jack Villarreal (1-0) entered the game to clean things up in the top of the fifth and struck out one Ram in the sixth to keep the game even. In the bottom of the sixth, Luke Burford got on base via an error, stole second and advanced to third on a North Central miscue to put himself in scoring position for a go-ahead single off the bat of Tyler Beyke. An error later on allowed a second run to cross.
Noah Brettin entered from the Thunder bullpen to lock down the save (2) in the seven-inning affair. He induced a pair of soft groundouts and struck out the final batter of the game in the 4-2 victory. At the plate, six hits were diversified among six different student-athletes, with Rumberger and Walton adding walks to reach base twice.
GAME TWO RECAP:
In the second of a doubleheader on Wednesday, the Rams got on the board first with one run in the bottom of the first and a four-spot in the third to go up 5-0. Trine plated their first run in the fourth thanks to a two-out RBI single by Cole Schmidthuber, but North Central answered with one of their own in the bottom of the fourth.
The Thunder bats came alive in the top of the fifth with a four-run inning of their own. Dalton Nikirk cleared the loaded bases with a three-run double and later scored to make it 6-5 Rams. North Central would extend their lead to 8-5 in the bottom half with a pair of runs stemming from a triple.
Walton had a triple of his own in the top of the sixth that scored Rumberger and Nikirk to get to within one and Gilmet followed him with a run-scoring single to get back to even at 8-8. Relief pitcher Kade Keele was able to fan two in a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth to quiet the opponents.
After both teams went scoreless in the seventh, the two needed an extra inning in the eighth to find a winner. Rumberger led off the inning by reaching on an error and Brayden Basey pushed him to second on a sacrifice. Nikirk would single in the next at-bat to put runners on the corners, but the Rams opted to load the bases with an intentional walk. The move would not work out for the opposition as Gilmet hit a sacrifice fly and Easton Rhodes drove in a run on a single to center field.
Brettin (1-1), who entered the game in the seventh, returned to the rubber in the eighth to secure the 10-8 win. The junior right-hander would throw two shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts. Multiple hits were credited to Rumberger (3), Nikirk (2) and Walton (2) with Nikirk credited with a team-high three RBIs and four runs scored. Nikirk and Walton each reached base in four of their five plate appearances.
UP NEXT:
The Trine University baseball team has announced an addition to their schedule at the RussMatt Invitational. The Thunder will face St. John Fisher University on Thursday, March 7 beginning at 7 p.m.