Box Scores: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4
GOSHEN, Ind. and FT. WAYNE, Ind. – The midway point of this week’s four-game series against St. Francis also marked the halfway mark in the conference season for the Goshen College baseball team. The Maple Leafs find themselves in a rather uncomfortable situation after the Cougars swept the series and kept Goshen winless in the brutal Mid-Central Conference.
As the series got underway in Goshen on Tuesday, the Maple Leafs offense was hoping to break out of its recent funk. St. Francis’ junior right-hander Matt Degitz had other plans as he fired a complete-game shutout as the Cougars took the opener 5-0. Goshen managed just four hits in the game, including a 2-for-3 effort from senior Ian Swartz.
Sophomore Shane Kurtz had another solid outing, but was tagged with the loss. Kurtz threw six innings, while giving up only three earned runs.
In the nightcap, Goshen came out of the gate strong. After Matt Fyfe held St. Francis scoreless in the top of the first, the Maple Leafs scored their first run of the series to open a 1-0 advantage in the first. Adam Zehr singled and then stole second base to move into scoring position. Senior Darren Tronovich promptly followed with a RBI single to put Goshen on the board.
In the next three innings, the Maple Leafs would pound out six more hits. However, they would leave six men on base in those three frames as they held onto a narrow 1-0 lead into the fifth inning.
As it always does, the failure to score those runs came back to bite Goshen. St. Francis would execute a sacrifice bunt and a perfect hit-and-run as they rallied for three runs on four hits in the fifth inning. The Cougars would add two more in the sixth and a single run in the seventh as they went on for a 6-1 win. Fyfe kept the Maple Leafs in the game as he gave up just three earned runs in six innings of work, while designated hitter Adam Zehr led the offense going 3-for-4.
Goshen hoped to turn the tables on St. Francis as the series shifted to Fort Wayne – delayed one day to Friday due to the weather. The Maple Leafs looked to use some offensive momentum from an eight-run outburst against Calumet College of St. Joseph’s in a non-conference matchup on Wednesday.
Again, it was not to be as St. Francis took game one 6-2 and finished the sweep with an 8-3 rain-shortened win. In the first game, six Maple Leaf errors cost Aaron Coy an otherwise solid start. The sophomore right-hander threw six innings, and gave up just one earned run, while striking out five. Goshen would score twice late, including a seventh-inning homer by Coy, his first of the year.
In the series finale, St. Francis scored singles runs in the first and third, two in the second, and four in the fifth before the game was called in the sixth because of heavy rain. Again, the Maple Leafs struggled defensively as they tallied four errors leading to four unearned runs.
Goshen tallied a run in the second after Coy doubled and eventually scored on a groundout. The Leafs would score two more in the fourth as Scott Scuzs ripped a two-run double. Three of Goshen’s four hits in the game were for extra bases.
The Maple Leafs will look to get into the MCC win column as they face off against tough squads in Indiana Wesleyan and Bethel College this week. Their final conference series of the year will be versus fellow winless Grace College. |
Sophomore Shane Kurtz