No. 25 UNOH Tops Baseball Twice to Open Weekend Series

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LIMA, Ohio — Marygrove baseball officially played its first ranked opponent in program history when the No. 25 Racers of the University of Northwestern Ohio welcomed the shorthanded, young Mustangs to Lima, Ohio on Saturday (March 28). The Racers held true to their national ranking, downing the Mustangs in game one, 10-0, before taking game two over the Green and Gold by a 14-0 final score.

The pair of losses dropped the Mustangs to 2-19 overall and 1-9 in WHAC play while the Racers lifted their record to 20-6 and 8-0 in conference action after winning their 18th game in 19 outings.

GAME ONE – No. 25 Northwestern Ohio 10, @MGroveBASEBALL 0
Starting pitcher Jacob Baker (Berkley, Mich./Berkley High School) threw well in just over three innings of work despite leaving the game staring up at an 8-0 deficit. Baker was removed in the fourth inning after recording one out as the Mustangs gave up six runs in the frame to trail 8-0 in the opener. Baker was not charged with any earned runs in the six-run fourth inning as the Mustangs had four errors in the inning to give the Racers the big lead.

After three-and-a-third innings, Baker left the mound charged with only two earned runs despite the large deficit as he gave way to reliever Trey Blandford (Louisville, Ky./Fern Creek High School) who took the Mustangs into the eighth inning, striking out two without giving up a run.

The Mustangs offense started hot with two first-inning hits – singles from Mavrick Dube (Warren, Mich./Mott High School) and James Edwards (Detroit, Mich./Shaw University) to put a pair of runners on early. Dube led the game off with a single to right center before David Chung (Warren, Mich./Bishop Foley High School) got his sac bunt down to move Dube to second. Edwards came to the plate next and sent a ball through the right side to move Dube to third, giving the Mustangs runners on the corners with only one down.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, Racers’ starter Brodie Mitchell slammed the door from there to leave Dube and Edwards stranded and end the Green and Gold’s best scoring threat of the afternoon.

Mitchell only gave up two more hits en route to earning his second straight complete game shutout. Edwards led the Mustangs with two hits, while Dube and Chris Gittleman (Windsor, Ontario/Trinity Christian College) recorded one hit each off the starter Mitchell who moved to 4-0 on the season.

GAME TWO – No. 25 Northwestern Ohio 14, @MGroveBASEBALL 0
The Mustangs were outdone by a five-run third inning by the No. 25 Racers in a 14-0 setback to close day one of two from Lima, Ohio. All five Racer runs came with two outs in the third inning as the flood gates opened on starter Ryne Underwood (Louisville, Ky./Fern Creek High School) after a Mustang error.

The five-run outburst in the third led to a 7-0 lead for the Racers as Underwood and the rest of the first-year Mustangs were faced with another comeback attempt in conference play. Edwards would try his best to start the comeback, leading the fourth inning off with a base hit up the middle before Ernesto Carrillo (Dearborn, Mich./Pro Baseball Academy) followed later with a single up the middle of his own. The Mustangs could not get Carrillo and Edwards to home plate, struggling to get runners across all day against stellar Racers pitching. After shutting down the Mustangs in the fourth, the Racers went on to post another five-run inning in the sixth to win their 20th straight regular season contest dating back to April 13, 2014 to keep pace with No. 6 Davenport atop the WHAC standings.

BASEBALL CONTACT: Tim Johnston | [email protected]/* */ | @tjohnston56
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