Fort Wayne, Ind. - The Marian baseball team suffered their second single-day sweep of the Crossroads League season on Saturday, as the Knights lost games one and two of their weekend series against St. Francis. The pair of low-scoring losses drops Marian to 16-15 overall and 11-9 in the Crossroads League.

Game 1 | Marian 1-5 St. Francis
The Knights and Cougars had strong starts on the pitching mounds in the opening game of the weekend series, with Logan Drook and Perry Stow matching with perfect innings. Stow would hold the Knights scoreless in the third inning as he remained perfect, but in the home half Drook was unable to keep the pace as he walked the first three batters in the inning. Drook would get two strikeouts, but sandwiched in between the punchouts was a bases-clearing triple and RBI double, putting Marian behind 4-0.

Marian broke up the no-hitter in the fourth inning with a Kameron Salazar single, but Marian was unable to continue to string the hits along as they came up empty in trying to score their first runs. Drook responded with a scoreless fourth inning, but in the fifth inning allowed a single that came in to score on a sacrifice fly. Drook exited the game trailing 5-0 after completing the sixth inning, ending his outing with a strikeout.

Salazar and Johnny Roeder attempted to help Marian's rally cause in the fifth and sixth innings with a walk and single, but Marian was limited to one runner in each inning. Bryce Davenport walked to lead off the seventh inning, and after a Max Steffen base hit, Caden Mason delivered an RBI single, giving the Knights their first run. A strikeout would end Marian's rally efforts, and over the final two innings the Knights managed just two base runners, as they would go on to fall 5-1.

Drook took the loss allowing three hits and five runs in his six innings, striking out seven batters. Jayson Cottrell and Kayden Cain pitched the final two innings for Marian, each recording one strikeout. Cottrell allowed one hit in four batters faced, while Cain allowed three men to reach base on walks or hit by pitch. Marian's offense mustered three hits in the loss, getting one each from Mason, Salazar, Roeder, and Steffen. Salazar reached base three times, and Davenport scored the team's lone run.

Game 2 | Marian 1-4 St. Francis
The second act of the double header looked similar to the first, with the first inning of the game going by scoreless between pitchers Chris Adams and Luke Siren. Adams worked around a single in the first inning while Siren held the Knights off the bases in the first, and limited a single in the second. In the bottom of the second inning, Adams yielded the lead, as two base hits against the starter pushed in the Cougars first run.

Adams and Siren traded three-up, three-down frames in the third, and in the fourth Marian managed to get a pair of base runners with Max Steffen and Rylan Huntley's singles, but Siren stood tall and struck out the side. Adams pitched a scoreless fourth, and in the fifth saw the game draw back to a tie as Dawson Estep launched a solo home run to even the score 1-1.

The tie game would break however, as in the bottom of the fifth inning a lead-off walk bolstered the Cougars offense. Adams gave up a pair of base hits with one driving in the go-ahead run, and before the inning closed a sacrifice fly and RBI single against the starter put Marian in a 4-1 hole. Adams would finish his complete game effort with a scoreless sixth inning.

Marian's rally attempts in the sixth and seventh inning went unheard, as their side was retired in order by Siren in the sixth inning. Trailing by three in their final trip to the plate, Marian managed a base runner as Johnny Roeder was hit by a pitch, but consecutive strikeouts from the St. Francis pitcher ended the contest, handing the Knights the 4-1 defeat.

Adams suffered his fifth loss of the season as he completed his fifth complete game, allowing four runs and seven hits. Adams did retire seven hitters on the strikeout in the loss. At the plate, Marian managed five base hits, coming from Steffen, Huntley, Seth Hogg, Mason, and Estep. Estep's home run was his sixth of the season. 

Marian and St. Francis will complete their series on Sunday afternoon, with Monday's game one opening at 12:00 p.m.

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