March 2, 2015
By: Ryan Schadewald, sports information assistant
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - The Bluffton baseball team struggled on day two in Florida as they were swept by John Carroll on Monday, Mar. 2. The Beavers lost game one, 11-9, in a seven-inning contest before dropping the nine-inning game, 7-3. Bluffton slipped to 1-2 on the young season while the Blue Streaks improved to 2-2.
The Beavers started well, plating five in the top half of the first inning. The scoring began on a two-run shot to left from Aaron Young (Shelby) for a quick 2-0 lead. The inning continued with three RBI singles from Michael Alexander (Monroe), Jeff Roth (Bellevue) and Clayton Siders (Delaware/Worthington Christian) for a 5-0 advantage before the dust settled. John Carroll came back with two in the bottom half of the first, then each team scored one in the second with Bluffton’s coming on a Jake Townley (Mansfield/Madison) one-out RBI triple.
The Blue Streaks pulled closer with two runs in the fourth inning to make it a 6-4 Beaver lead as JCU hurler Mark Materise calmed down with three straight scoreless innings. In the bottom half of that fifth inning the Beavers ran into a buzzsaw. The Blue Streaks rolled up six runs on six hits while the Beavers committed three errors while falling behind 11-6.
But the Beavers would not go away quietly. In the sixth, a walk to sophomore Luke Hickey (Toledo/Whitmer) brought up senior Tyler Spalding (Willis, Mich./Lincoln) who doubled down the left field line to cut the JCU lead to 11-7, knocking Materise out of the contest. Bluffton loaded the bases after reliever Hlavin walked Young and hit Townley with a pitch. JCU then went to Servido as their third pitcher of the inning. Bluffton’s Mike Castro (Reynoldsburg) grounded into a fielders’ choice RBI and Spalding came around to score on an error which made the score 11-9. Servidio closed the door by striking Cade Randolph (Marengo/Highland) out swinging to halt the rally. Servidio allowed two hits in the ninth, but forced Hickey to ground out with two on to secure the game one victory.
Bluffton was led in game one by Young with two RBI on his blast in the opening inning. But the hitting was a collective effort with six guys racking up two hits despite the loss. The Beavers did, however, commit five errors, including three in the Lobos six-run fifth inning. The win went to Mark Materise (1-0), who pitched 5.1 but gave up eight runs on 13 hits. Jake Servido earned his first save of the year, tossing 1.2 innings of shutout baseball. Taylor Gambrell(Bowling Green) was the tough luck loser (0-1), pitching just two-thirds of an inning and giving up six runs, only one earned, on five hits. Senior Brad Schlabach (Fredericksburg/Hiland) closed out the game with 1.2 innings of shutout baseball for the Beavers.
Game two became a pitching battle, where John Carroll’s Andrew Doring pitched seven strong innings to lead his team to the 7-3 win.
The game was scoreless through two innings, when JCU finally got to Jaylen Von Sossan (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf), putting a four spot on the board to get the lead. The Beavers got one back in the third, when Jeff Roth scored on a throwing error. They also scored a run in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 4-2 on a Roth sacrifice fly that followed a triple from freshman catcher Reid Maus (Hamilton/Badin).
Von Sossan bounced back and gave up just one hit over the next three innings. However, he only got only out in the seventh before surrendering two hits and a run, forcing him out of the game in favor of Austin Prosser (Galion).. Bluffton would get that run back in the seventh on a Siders RBI single which scored Castro to make it 5-3. However, John Carroll added two more in the seventh and limited the Beavers to only one hit in the final two innings to earn the 7-3 victory.
Doring gave up three runs, two earned, on five hits with 11 strikeouts for John Carroll in the win, with Mathis Newman giving up just one hit and striking out three in the final two innings. Von Sossan allowed five runs, four earned, on seven hits and struck out eight in 6.1 innings. Landen Brown (Lebanon) shut the door in the last 1.2 innings, giving up just a hit and a walk in his effort.
The Beavers will take Tuesday off before returning to action on Wednesday, March 4 as they continue action in Florida when they take on Northland. First pitch is set for 9 a.m. before a 12 p.m. clash with Finlandia.
-BEAVERS-
