WINTER HAVEN, FLA.-- Trine's baseball team dropped their first two games on the final day of competition at the RussMatt Central Florida Collegiate Baseball Invitational, but rallied back to win their final game of the day in walk-off fashion. Trine concludes their spring break trip 3-5 overall.
Game One: St. John Fisher 15, Trine 2
The Cardinals used a pair of big innings to cruise to the victory in Trine's first game of the day.
St. John Fisher scored four runs in the third, and followed that with an eight-spot in the fourth to build in insurmountable lead. Nine of the Cardinals 19 hits went for extra-bases in the game. Cody Wiktorsi drove in three runs, while Mike Fahy, Nick Flemister, Malcolm Kelsey, Cam Allen and Joe Simmons each knocked in a pair of runs.
Sean Badger allowed four hits and struck out nine in five shutout innings to earn the victory.
Drew Burgess (Middlebury, Ind./Northridge) picked up his first collegiate RBI with a groundout to score Mike Seaman (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West).
The Cardinals improved to 5-1 on the season with the victory.
Game Two: Rhode Island College 5, Trine 1
A pair of big innings and a shut down pitching effort led Rhode Island to the 5-1 victory.
The Anchormen scored two runs in the first and added three more in the fourth. CJ Tsoumakas pitched five shutout innings, allowing four hits, walking two and striking out three to earn the victory.
Matt Foley plated the first run of the game with an RBI on a fielder's choice in the first. Tyler Santaniello added an RBI-double in the first to make it 2-0. Sean Getman, Matt Billington and Giann Abbruzzesse each picked up RBI's in the three-run fourth.
Luke Porter (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) reached base in all three plate appearances for Trine, picking up two hits and drawing a walk. Adam Sullivan (Fort Wayne, Ind./Elmhurst) hit a sacrifice fly to score Porter in the seventh inning for the only Thunder run of the game.
Edward Tomich (Carmel, Ind./Westfield) pitched the complete game for Trine.
Game Three: Trine 7, Rhode Island 6 (8 innings)
Rhode Island rallied back from a three-run deficit to send the game to extra innings, but Jeff Phillips' (Prospect, Ohio/Marion Pleasant) walk-off RBI-single sent the Thunder home with the victory.
The Anchormen jumped out early and took advantage of some Trine mistakes to score three unearned runs in the top of the first.
Trine broke through with a huge fourth after loading the bases with one out. Ethan Prebynski (Auburn, Ind./DeKalb) was hit by a pitch to force in the first Thunder run. From there, the floodgates opened. Trine got two runs on an error to tie the score 3-3. An RBI-groundout by Sullivan gave Trine the lead before a Phillips RBI-double and an RBI-single by Andrew DeGood (Hamilton, Mich./Hamilton) capped the inning and made the score 6-3.
Rhode Island would not go quietly however, as the Anchormen scratched across a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to tie the score. Justin Rainville scored on a fielder's choice to tie the score.
Porter shut down the Anchormen in the seventh and eighth to earn his first collegiate victory. The freshman walked one and struck out two in two hitless innings. Jeremy Spalding (Toledo, Ohio/Toledo Central Catholic) did not allow an earned run in his five innings of work.
Prebynski set the table in the bottom of the eighth by drawing a leadoff walk. Christian Heustis (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) got down a key sacrifice bunt to move Prebynski into scoring position with one out. After Sullivan drew another walk, Phillips' single scored Prebynski from second to give Trine the win and end the day on a high note.
Trine returns to action next Saturday, Mar. 15 when they travel to Ohio Northern for a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
