INDIANAPOLIS - The Marian baseball team picked up its 20th victory of the season on Friday evening, as Marian won the second game of a home doubleheader against Indiana Wesleyan. Marian's game one result turned into a 9-7 loss, before turning around to win game two 8-4. Marian is 20-8 overall on the season, and 13-5 in Crossroads League play. 

Game One | Marian 7-9 Indiana Wesleyan
The Knights started both of their Friday games on a high note, scoring first in each contest to take an early lead on Indiana Wesleyan. In game one, Marian got a lead-off double from Brayden Coffey, who would come in to score after a wild pitch moved him to third and Landon Sarkey racked up an RBI groundout in the first inning, while in the second inning, Cole McManus reached on an error and came home to score on a groundout from Calvin Miller, giving the Knights a 2-0 lead. 

The lead would be short-lived, as the Wildcats came back and roughed up game one starter Evan Cooke in the top of the third inning. After throwing a pair of three-up, three-down frames, Cooke struggled with command in the third inning, walking four batters while giving up two singles, allowing the Wildcats to bring home four runs in the frame. Indiana Wesleyan followed by patiently drawing three more walks against Cooke in the top of the fourth inning, with a double and single contributing to the road team scoring two runs in the inning to go in front by a 6-2 count.

Marian would strike back, getting one of the four runs back in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single from Cole McManus, who drove home Hector Corona after the sophomore hit a lead-off double. The Wildcats would get out of the fourth and strand three Knights on base, but in the fifth, Marian was able to make up for the lost time as Hector Corona doubled in Landon Sarkey and River Pecina, and later scored on a Cole McManus base hit, tying the game 6-6 after five complete.

Mitchell Porter was called on in the fifth inning after Cooke exited the game, and worked through first-inning struggles but pitched a scoreless frame. Porter stranded two walks and a single in the fifth inning, and got through the sixth at a cleaner pace, leaving a single on board with an inning-ending strikeout. While the senior had a pair of scoreless innings, his sixth inning of work on the week would be his slow demise, as Indiana Wesleyan roughed the reliever for a pair of hits and a walk in the first four batters of the seventh inning. 

Kaeb Stebbins relieved Porter midway through the seventh inning and was unable to cleanly get out of his bases-loaded jam, as the inherited runners would score on a single and safety squeeze, putting the Wildcats in a 9-6 driver's seat. Marian would get a run back in the ensuing half inning on a solo home run from Hector Corona, but it would be the lone run for the Knights in the final three innings. Zach Troxel stranded a Marian runner in the seventh inning after the home run, and in the eighth inning, Grayson Schneider stranded Tate Bender and Brayden Coffey, who were each stuck on base in scoring position after walking in the frame.

Indiana Wesleyan finished off the win by employing Kevin Corcoran, who picked up three consecutive outs after Hector Corona walked against Schneider, ending the game in a 9-7 Marian defeat.

Hector Corona led the Knights in the game at the plate, going 3-4 with three RBI and three runs scored. Corona doubled twice and hit a solo home run in the loss. Zach Bale had two hits, as did Cole McManus, with McManus picking up two RBI in the defeat. On the mound, Cooke picked up a no-decision, pitching 4.0 innings with six runs allowed in addition to four hits and seven walks. Cooke did manage to strike out a game-high six batters. Porter (0-1) was charged with the loss after allowing three runs in the final of his 2.1 innings of work. Kaeb Stebbins pitched 2.2 innings, not allowing a run of his own in two hits and two walks surrendered. 

Game Two | Marian 8-4 Indiana Wesleyan
In game two, the Knights would start strong once again, getting four runs in the bottom of the first after Chris Adams pitched a three-up, three-down top half, retiring the side with a pair of strikeouts. Marian's home half of the first started with Brayden Coffey walking and Landon Sarkey getting hit by a pitch, putting two men on for River Pecina, who tripled to left to score two. Pecina would later score on a wild pitch, and Aiden Kerr finished the big inning with a double that scored Hector Corona, giving the Knights a 4-0 lead.

The Wildcats retaliated in the ensuing half inning, drawing two walks and picking up a single against Adams to load the bases. A one-out wild pitch would help IWU score its first run, while two batters later, a bases-loaded single from Greg Vineyard knocked in two more runs, pulling Indiana Wesleyan one run ahead of Marian. Adams was able to get a third strikeout in the second inning to retire the side, and rebounded in the third inning with a three-batter half inning, but would fall behind once more in the fourth inning. A lead-off walk gave the Wildcats free runners, and after being unable to turn a double play on Grant Payson's fielder's choice, a wild pitch and an RBI single came to sting Adams for a game-tying run.

The game would stay at a 4-4 deadlock heading into the home side of the fifth inning, as Adams recovered from his run allowed in the fourth with a scoreless half inning. Adams' picked up two strikeouts in the fifth inning and swung momentum to the offense after stranding a runner at third, as Hector Corona drew a one-out walk that knocked starter Noah Wathen out of the game. Reliever Caleb Olsen would quickly pick up a strikeout against Johnny Roeder, but Marian continued to fight with two outs on the board, as Corona stole second and came home to score the go-ahead run on an RBI single from Aiden Kerr. Kerr's pinch-runner, Nathan Pinarski, would come home after the outfielder and Tate Bender executed a double steal following the freshman's single, and Cole McManus delivered the fireworks, launching his second pinch-hit home run of the season. The two-run home run gave Marian an 8-4 edge.

Marian turned the game over to Jack Peine after taking the lead, and the sophomore continued to deliver, pitching a perfect sixth inning. Peine's inning was highlighted by consecutive strikeouts that ended the frame. The Wildcats would test the reliever in the seventh inning as they loaded the bases on a single, a walk, and a hit by pitch, but Peine would stay in command of the game and situation. Peine struck out two batters after the walk, and after hitting Ben Seitzinger, the young pitcher got Grant Payson to go down looking at strikes, retiring the side himself to close out the 8-4 victory. 

Aiden Kerr and Landon Sarkey each had two hits in the win, with Kerr joining River Pecina and Cole McManus with a team-high two RBI each. McManus delivered Marian's lone home run in the win, while Pecina tripled and Kerr doubled. Chris Adams (4-2) earned the win on the mound, pitching 5.0 innings with a season-high 10 strikeouts. Adams allowed four hits and runs, and walked six batters in the win. Peine struck out five of the nine batters he faced, allowing one hit in two scoreless innings of relief. 

The Knights and Wildcats will resume the series on Saturday afternoon, with game one scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

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