ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University baseball team suffered a setback in the series finale with Anderson University on Monday afternoon, 6-5. The 4-2 Ravens walked it off with an RBI single in the ninth inning to put the Thunder at 1-2 on the year.
Trine produced a run with small ball in the first inning. Cole Temple led off the game by drawing a walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt and a single by Dalton Nikirk that moved the runner to third. Brody Bond was credited with an RBI on his groundout to go up 1-0.
Daniel Rumberger added on in the third inning when he drove in two on a double to left center. Luke Burford started the frame with a single and Temple followed with a walk to put two on base for the senior outfielder. Rumberger scored later in the inning on a passed ball. Will Gimbel ran into some trouble in the bottom half of the inning but got out of a jam by inducing a key double play.
Anderson got back to even in the bottom of the fifth with three runs to make the score 4-4. The Thunder answered right back with consecutive doubles from Brayden Basey and Cole Schmidthuber to make it 5-4 Trine.
Evan Shoppell entered the game out of the bullpen and tossed a shutout inning in the sixth, but the Ravens scratched across a run on a one out single. Jack Villarreal was called upon to close the door and that in the seventh and in the eighth, Noah Brettin entered the game with two outs and the go-ahead run on. Brettin got the hitter to flyout to end the scoring threat and keep the game level at five.
With two away, the top of the order made some noise for Trine in the ninth with hits by Temple and Rumberger to set up the three-hitter Nikirk. The senior would groundout to end the inning and the team needed a zero to extend the game. A leadoff triple for Anderson gave the team a variety of options to score the winning run and that they did on a one-out single to walk it off, 6-5.
Eight batters recorded hits, including multi-hit games from Temple and Rumberger. Temple reached on four of his five plate appearances with two walks as well. Gimbel had two strikeouts to lead the pitching staff.
Up next, Trine leaves for their spring break trip in Auburndale, Florida where they will kick things off on Sunday, March 3 with a doubleheader against Penn State University-Altoona.
