Angola, Ind. – Trine baseball earns the doubleheader sweep over Albion on its senior day Sunday afternoon at Jannen Field.
The Thunder send its 10 seniors off in a comeback fashion to take both games. In game one, two grand slams coming from Jacob Heller (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Prairie Heights) and Drew Palmer (Hartford, Wisc. / Hartford Union), along with a two-run shot by Zach Seder (Saginaw, Mich. / Valley Lutheran) secured Trine's win. Two huge innings in the eighth and ninth inning of game two allowed the Thunder to earn the comeback win with Colton Conn notching a (Cincinnati, Ohio / Indian Hill) walk-off two RBI single to the opposite side of the field.
Heller led Trine's offense with six RBI, four of them coming from his first career grand slam. He closed out the season on a 15-game hitting streak. Conn contributed to the attack with five RBI. Palmer added four RBI of his own to help the offense. He wrapped up his career with 91 career RBI to take second place in team history. His 35 RBI this season moves him into a tie for fourth place in team history.
Trine's baseball team honored its 10 seniors today in their final games of their collegiate careers. Seniors recognized were; Grant Frankland (Fishers, Ind. / Hamilton Southeastern), Jacob Stauffer (Elkhart, Ind. / Concord), Vinny Slobodecki (Carol Stream, Ill. / Glenbard North), Palmer, Andy Farrell (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio / St. Vincent St. Mary), Alec Patterson (West Milford, Ohio / Troy Christian), Ben Pritchett (Fishers, Ind. / Fishers), Shaun Seigneur (Grove City, Ohio / Central Crossing), Seder, and Robert Ross (Valparaiso, Ind. / Washington Township).
Game One: Trine 12, Albion 10
Frankland picked up the win on the mound to improve his record to 2-3. He had two strikeouts, one walk and allowed three earned runs in 5.2 innings of work on the mound.
Farrell earned his fourth career save. He worked 1.0 shutout innings and struck out one.
Andrew Fabry is credited with the loss for Albion, making his record fall to 2-3.
The Britons took the quick one run lead over Trine with a solo homerun coming from Joe Turnbull in the first inning.
Jack Wyman scored another run for Albion with his standup RBI double in the top of the third.
The Thunder took the lead 4-2 over Albion when Heller went yard to the opposite side of the field for his first career grand slam.
The Britons got within one run when Jordyn Finney scored off a team error.
In the bottom of the fourth Trine added to its lead with two homeruns. Seder launched a two-run shot to left field for his second career homerun. Palmer capped the inning when he went yard to center-right field for a grand slam for his 12th career homerun. Trine led Albion 11-3 with three innings left to play.
Albion went on a late comeback attempt in the top of the sixth, scoring seven runs to come within one for the second time of the game. Riley Stesiak started the inning off with his solo homerun. A bases loaded walk allowed the Briton's to score its second run of the inning. Logan Priebe added to the seven-run inning with a two RBI singles. Finney added with his standup RBI double. The inning was closed out with two runs scoring because of a Trine team error.
The Thunder scored an insurance run off a double steal to lead 12-10 going into the last inning.
Game Two: Trine 15, Albion 14
Patterson earns the win on the mound, improving his record to 2-1.
Riley Stesiak is credited the loss and drops his record to 1-2.
Albion struck first in the second game when it scored a run off a double play.
The Thunder tied the game up at one apiece with Heller's RBI ground out.
The Britons took the lead in the second inning scoring six runs. Turnbull started off the inning with RBI groundout, followed by Shane Lindemann with a RBI double and Wyman's RBI single. Finney and Stesiak both hit a homerun, Finney's a two-run shot and Stesiak's a solo.
Pritchett got one back for the Thunder when he hit an RBI single. Trine trailed Albion 7-2.
Albion added to its lead with another run when Turnbell hit an RBI standup double, increasing its lead to 8-2.
Trine cut the Briton's lead to five with a standup RBI double coming from Seder.
In the bottom of the fourth Trine kept itching to close the gap in Albion's lead by scoring another run coming from Jacob Douglass' (Frankfort, Ind. / Western) RBI single to the opposite side of the field.
The Thunder closed the Briton's lead to only three runs, 8-5. Pritchett with a RBI sac fly allowed Heller to cross home plate.
Albion stretched its lead to five again when Finney hit an RBI single followed by a runner scoring off a double steal.
Heller closed the Briton's lead to just four in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single.
Finney hit his second homerun of the game for a two-run shot and adding two runs to Albion's score, 13-6.
Trine cut the Briton's lead to two runs in the bottom of the eighth by scoring five runs. Kevin O'Malley (Commerce Township, Mich. / Walled Lake Central) started things off hitting an RBI single. Conn followed with a three RBI double, Douglass capped the inning with an RBI standup double. Trine trailed Albion 13-11.
Albion moved its lead to three runs when Turnbull hit his second homerun today.
The Thunder had a huge last inning to take the comeback victory. With bases loaded, O'Malley had an RBI walk followed by Pritchett's RBI hit by pitch. Conn sealed the win with a walk off RBI single to the opposite side of the field.
Trine concludes its season with an overall record of 19-18 and an MIAA record of 13-15. The Thunder finished tied for fourth in the MIAA. Albion ended its season 15-24 overall and 8-20 in the MIAA.
Article contributed by Cody Konieczki, Trine University '17
Cody Konieczki will graduate Saturday with a degree in communications. Trine athletics thanks Konieczki for his work with sports information over the past three years.
