(Game 1 Stats) (Game 2 Stats) Spring Arbor, MI — After a rainout Saturday, the Goshen College baseball team completed the latter half of its four-game series with Mid-Central Conference rival Spring Arbor University Monday afternoon, dropping a pair by 5-11 and 4-6 scores.
The losses were — again — in the heartbreak department for Goshen (3-17, 0-4), as the Leafs have lost its last 10 games, with half of those losses coming by an average of just 2.2 runs per game.
“I'm confident that we will be able to start putting some wins together soon,” said Josh Keister, Goshen head coach. “I believe we have played one of the toughest schedules in the nation up to this point. We have played very talented teams very closely. We just have struggled coming up with the necessary at-bats.”
Such was the case Monday, as Keister’s team rang out 18 total hits on the day — Spring Arbor belted a total of 19. The host Cougars were far more efficient, however, batting in a total 15 runs on the day to Goshen’s nine.
“We had a lot of hits today which was encouraging but we did not get any big two-out hits as we left lots of runners on base,” Keister said.
Goshen stranded a total 20 base runners on the day, including a disheartening 12 in the Game 1 loss. Sophomore Aaron Keister (0-6) was saddled with that pitching defeat, allowing seven runs in two innings of work. Freshmen Kraig Miller and Shane Kurtz came on in relief, but the damage had been done: Spring Arbor scored eight of its 11 total runs in the second, third and fourth innings, wiping out an early 3-0 Goshen lead in the process.
The Leafs started the day with a bang, thanks in large part to Miller’s two-run double in his first at-bat. Following singles from junior Ian Swartz and senior Nate Colclasure, Miller knocked his second career double to drive in the scores. Freshman Zach Miller concluded Goshen’s scoring for the stanza with a single that drove in Kraig Miller, giving the Leafs a 3-0 lead.
After blanking Spring Arbor in the Cougars’ first appearance at the plate, Aaron Keister began to have difficulty. After a Leafs’ error allowed the Cougars a lead-off runner in the second, Keister hit the next batter, and then walked another. A pair of singles and a sacrifice fly extended the inning, helping Spring Arbor tie the game.
Another Goshen error opened the defensive portion of the third inning, while four hits equated to five Spring Arbor runs.
Colclasure and Swartz led the way for Goshen, going 3-3 and 2-4 from the plate, respectively. Zach Miller finished with three singles, driving in two runs.
Another early lead dissipated in the day’s second contest, as an early 1-0 Goshen lead was thwarted by another Spring Arbor push. After a double from Swartz drove in a run in the top of the first inning, the host Cougars responded with five runs in the following two stanzas, reclaiming the momentum from the day’s first contest. Keister’s team was able to generate a run in the sixth — junior Darren Tronovich scored after doubling — but could find no additional offense.
Senior Dann Hunt (1-3) was saddled with the pitching loss, going the distance and striking out three. Colclasure finished 2-4 with an RBI to lead Goshen’s offensive pace, while Swartz, Tronovich, freshman Aaron Coy and junior Mike Malott all registered one-hit performances.
“Spring Arbor is an excellent team and is probably favored to win the conference,” Keister said following the four-game tilt. “We competed well with them in all four games but were never able to get a win which is frustrating. It is a positive that we were able to play such a good team as tough as we did, though. We’ll keep working at it.”
Goshen will next take a hiatus from MCC play, as the team will turn around and host Aquinas College in a double-header tomorrow afternoon. Game time for the first of two is set for 1 p.m.
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Freshman Kraig Miller