Hamilton Joes 7, Lima Locos 5
The Locos got another strong outing from ace Matteo Pare (Pensacola State College), but couldn’t hold on for the win against the first-place Hamilton Joes on Saturday.
Pare exited after five innings with a 4-2 lead which held up until Hamilton manufactured five runs in the bottom of the seventh to take control of the game.
Eli Kieser (Ball State University) clubbed a three-run homer which tied the score at five, then a sacrifice fly from Ryan Novak (Miami University) and an RBI single from Mitchel Szymczak (Lake Erie College) gave Hamilton a two-run lead.
Griffen Paige (Wright State University) got the win after four innings out of the bullpen. He held Lima to one earned run on two hits. Matty Helms (Northern Kentucky University) started the top of the ninth, but he was only able to get one out before he got into trouble and Jared Teke (Northern Kentucky University) came in for the final two outs and picked up the save.
Christian Pownall (Ohio State University) was the losing pitcher after he struggled through 1 2/3 innings, allowing four earned runs on two hits.
Sebastian Alexander (Coastal Carolina University) had three hits in the loss. Two-hit games were recorded by Lou Fujiwara (University of Washington), Blake Bowen (University of Akron) and Kaden Brown (Kennesaw State University).
The Locos (6-8) return to Simmons Field for the series finale against Hamilton (11-3) on Sunday.
Michigan Monarchs 4, Grand Lake Mariners 3
Michigan scored three times in the first inning, and even though Grand Lake fought back to tie things up in the seventh, the Monarchs pulled out the win thanks to a sacrifice fly from Liam Pollock (Oakland University) in the eighth inning.
Ty Garza (Wayne State University) scored the winning run on a night where he went 3 for 3 with two RBI. Kimo Fukofuka (transfer portal) also had three hits.
Sam Bassett-Kennedy (Michigan State University) was the winner in two innings out of the bullpen despite giving up two runs on a pair of hits. Gage Smith (Oakland University) pitched a clean ninth inning to pick up the save.
Six different players recorded one hit for Grand Lake.
AJ McAninch (Marshall University) limited the Michigan bats to one run on five hits in five innings but was saddled with the loss.
Michigan is now 7-7, while Grand Lake falls to 4-10.
Xena at Muskegon was postponed due to rain. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Sunday.
