INDIANAPOLIS - The Marian baseball team split the opening doubleheader to kick off their six-game homestand in the final week of the regular season, falling in game one while winning the second game. Marian's split moves the Knights into eighth place in the league standings, as they are 17-27 overall and 11-21 in league play.
GAME 1 | Marian 1-5 St. Francis
The Knights fell in a pitcher's duel in game one, as
Jayson Cottrell pitched a strong outing as he made his third start of the season. Cottrell got off to a rough start however as St. Francis charged the young pitcher with a pair of hits and a pair of free bases in the first inning to score two runs, but a strikeout and flyout minimized the threat. The southpaw got support back from his offense in the bottom of the first inning as a
JJ Rivera single scored
Kameron Salazar to get their first run of the day. Marian however would end the first inning with the bases loaded, as
Rylan Huntley flew out to deep right field.
After the first inning, only one run crossed the plate until the ninth inning, as Cottrell and Lukas North threw a clean game. Both pitchers would throw a perfect inning in the second, while the third run for St. Francis came in the top of the third inning by the form of a David Miller solo home run. Cottrell would allow two more singles in the inning, but a double play and a runner caught stealing by
Josh Lamb halted the damage. Another double play aided Cottrell in the fourth inning, while Marian wasted an potential scoring opportunity as Huntley and
Bryce Davenport were left stranded on base after walking in the home half.
Both North and Cottrell stranded a single in the fifth inning as the pair continued to battle, and another double play bolstered the Marian redshirt-freshman as he faced the minimum in the sixth. North showed signs of fatigue in the sixth as a double from Huntley and a walk to
Trey Heidlage put a pair of men on, forcing a pitching change. Adam Kent was brought in from the bullpen, with the Cougars' reliever nailing the final out in the inning to strand the two infielders on second and third.
Cottrell would get out of the seventh clean and turn the ball over to
Seth Risley in the eighth, who worked out of a self-induced bases loaded jam to hold the run difference at two. Marian would manage three base runners in their final two trips to the plate in the form of a walk to Lamb and Huntley and fielder's choice by Salazar, but no runs crossed as Kent managed five strikeouts in the final two innings. St. Francis would add two runs against Risley in the top of the ninth, ending with the game's 5-1 final score.
Huntley finished the game with Marian's lone extra base hit, as he went 1-2 with two walks.
JJ Rivera,
Kameron Salazar, and
Josh Lamb had Marian's other three hits. Cottrell would suffer the loss in the game, pitching a season-long 7.0 innings while allowing seven hits. Cottrell allowed two of the five runs, striking out six batters. Risley allowed two hits and five walks in his two innings of relief, giving up a pair of runs.
GAME 2 | Marian 1-0 St. Francis
Pitching headlined the second act of the doubleheader once again, as
Daniel Brenneman locked horns against Chase Henry. Brenneman opened the game with a three-strikeout first inning as he stranded a walk, while Henry picked up a pair of strikeouts in his first inning of work against the Marian bats. Brenneman picked up two more strikeouts in the top of the second as he worked around a single to keep a zero on the scoreboard, while the Knights once again were retired in order by Henry.
Brenneman faced the minimum in the third inning and in the home half a pair of errors helped bring life to Marian's dugout, with a stolen base and trip to third on a throwing error put
Caden Mason in scoring position, but a rollover groundout ended the frame with Marian stranding a runner. The score remained scoreless going into the fifth inning as both pitchers stranded a pair of runner's in the fourth inning, and in the fifth Brenneman shook off a two-out single to keep his shutout going.
In the bottom of the fifth inning Marian's offense got going with their first hit of the game, as
Johnny Roeder doubled to deep right-center on the first pitch of his at-bat.
Josh Lamb followed with a shallow single to center field moving the freshman up to third base.
Caden Mason played the hero role after falling behind 0-2, tagging a fly ball into center field to score Roeder, pushing Marian ahead 1-0. Marian would force a pitching change but were unable to add to their lead in the inning, ending the frame on top 1-0.
Brenneman was tasked with finishing the game as Marian took the lead, working around a hit batter in the top of the sixth inning to strand the tying run at second base with back to back flyouts. In the seventh inning, the senior worked quickly getting a fast flyout, while following with a strikeout to put away the second batter. Two more pitches is all it took for the game to end, as a groundout to second base closed the 1-0 shutout win.
In his complete game, Brenneman fanned eight batters, going the full seven innings. Brenneman allowed just four hits, while two Cougars drew walks and another was hit by a pitch. At the plate Marian managed just three hits, with Roeder's double coming around to score the only run of the game on Mason's sacrifice fly.
With the win the Knights moved into eighth place in the Crossroads League standings, and will welcome Huntington to MU Ballpark for their final series of the regular season. Marian and Huntington will play Friday afternoon to open the weekend, playing again on Saturday as Marian celebrates their senior class.
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