It was an up and down week for the Saint Xavier baseball team, as they took three out of four games against Indiana University Southeast, but then dropped three out of four against Madonna University.
The Cougars series win against Indiana Southeast proved the team isn’t lacking talent since Indiana Southeast was ranked 19th in the country.
In the first game the Cougars faced adversity early being down four runs, but like any good baseball game, they didn’t panic and fought their way back in the 5th inning, that saw the Cougars tally eight runs. Resilience and timely hitting helped the Cougars take game one 8-5.
Game two was more exciting.
The Cougars bats continued to impress, as DH Jack Gainer drove in three runs and center fielder David Chianelli hit for two triples.
After taking a 9-3 lead into the final inning, the defense struggled again with errors. Indiana Southeast managed to score seven times, despite none of those runs coming off earned runs.
After a game which looked like an easy win, the Cougars were forced to attempt a comeback themselves. After a couple walks and an error, Agustin Guerrero got a base hit and drove in the winnings runs.
A big second inning in game three helped the Cougars win their third straight in the series. Starting pitcher Tim Brokop had a strong performance striking out six batters in five innings.
In the final game of the series, the bats weren’t as electric.
The Cougars only mustered up four hits. Indiana Southeast starting pitcher Jack Wohlert pitched a complete game gem, collecting nine strikeouts.
The lack of run production would haunt the Cougars in the next series against Madonna University, only scoring nine runs total in the four game series. Though the bats were cold, the pitching did its job, only giving up 14 runs in the entire series.
Game one starting pitcher Tyler Hebel only gave up one hit and one run in five and a third innings, but errors again cost the Cougars runs. Madonna University would plate across three unearned runs and win by a narrow score of 3-2.
Game two saw a better defensive performance, with the Cougars only giving up one error, but the bats were still cold. Only collecting one run off 5 hits, the Cougars fell 5-1.
The third game of the series was the lone victory for Saint Xavier. Tim Brokop took the mound again and continued to pitch in strong form with five solid innings. Jack Gainer, Ben Zordani and Garret Bright each had multi-hit games, helping the Cougars break out of their slump at the plate.
Reliever Erik Eggert came on in relief of Brokop and pitched two scoreless innings, earning his first win of the season out of the pen. Cougars took game three 4-3, giving Madonna University their first loss of the season.
Game four saw the Cougars struggle to score runs occur once again. A quality complete game performance from starting pitcher David Storm wasn’t enough. Madonna University would shut down the Cougars again, winning 3-2 and taking three out of four games in the series.
The baseball season is still early and teams trying to find their identity is normal at this stage of the season.
The bats got hot and cold between each series, but they know they have the potential to be a force on offense from the sample size against Indiana Southeast.
Losing three of four is never good, but one positive of that series is the Cougars pitching kept them in close ballgames. If the defense improves, and it’s trending that way, we could see a more consistent Cougars team in the very near future.
The Cougars next series begins March 2 against Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio. The Cougars won’t return home until March 13 against Robert Morris University.
Dominic Pellegrini
Sports Reporter