AUBURNDALE, Fl. – A quick start and an impressive rally ended in disappointment for the University of Mary baseball team. Fighting back from a six run deficit, the Marauders forced extra innings but came short of victory in an 11-10 loss to Lewis University.
Scheduled for nine innings, the Marauders (1-5 overall) and Flyers (3-1) played 12 in just over four hours on a beautiful day in Florida.
Chris Scott paced the Marauders offense with three hits in six at bats. The U-Mary freshman also scored twice and doubled up a Flyers baserunner after a catch in right field.
Drew Feuerbach came off the bench to drive in three runs and scored one and catcher
Tom Imholte crossed the plate three times in a reserve role.
The Marauders opened the scoring with a three-run first inning. Freshman first baseman
Travis Stevens singled home two runs and senior shortstop
Mason Schiff walked with the bases loaded to force home the third run as U-Mary hit around the order.
Lewis countered with a single unearned run in the before exploding for four runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Neal Tyrell hit a 3-run home run and Ethan Bloom followed with a solo shot. Two more home runs in the fifth, a solo leadoff shot by Austin Schltz and a two-run home run by Ethan Bloom, keyed a second straight four-run inning as the Flyers expanded their lead to 9-3.
U-Mary began its comeback in the sixth as Scott and Imholte led off with singles. With Imholte moved to second on a ground ball, a balk scored Scott and Imholte moved to third. Feuerbach then drove in Imholte on a grounder to second.
Immediately the Flyers responded, scoring a single run in the seventh for a 10-5 lead.
Scott singled to start a Marauders rally in the eighth. After an Imholte grounded forced Scott at second, a single by
Ryo Takenaka was followed by a reb scoring single by Feuerbach through the left side. Back to back walks to Beyer and Shaul, the second forcing in the second run of the inning, set up the Marauders third and final run when an infield error allowed Feurbach to score an unearned run.
Down 10-8 in the bottom of the ninth, the Marauders quickly loaded the bases on another leadoff single by Scott before Imholte and Takenaka were both hit by pitches. A Feuerbach grounder scored Scott with the ninth run of the game but forced Takenaka at second for the first out. A strikeout then set the stage for
Jason Shaul. With runners on the corners and two down, the Marauders lefthander drove a pitch into the left field corner to drive home Imholte for the tying run.
The Marauders came inches from walking off with the win.
Brad Meyer hit a liner that looked headed into left center but Flyers shortstop Joel Rotkvich skied to snare the shot and end the inning.
Neither team managed a run in the next two innings but Brandon Collins got the Flyers moving in the 12
th. He led off with a walk, stole second, moved to third on a single by Tyrell and scored on a double play ball off the bat of Bloom.
After the first two Marauders hitters were retired in the home half of the 12
th inning, Meyer lofted a single down the right field line. Looking for his third hit of the day, Stevens roped a shot, but right at Rotkvich at short for the final out.
Stevens finished 2-for-7 with two RBIs and a run scored. Meyer also was 2-for-7 with an RBI and run scored. Shaul, 1-for-3 with a double, a run scored and two runs batted in, was hit by a pitch and walked three times.
Nicholas Stobbe allowed one run on one hit and a walk with two strikeouts in two innings of relief. Takenaka allowed just one hit with two strikeouts in three innings. DeMaria threw an inning of shutout ball.
The top three Flyers hitters all had four hits. Collins, Tyrell and Bloom were all 4-for-6. Collins scored two runs, including the winner, Tyrell scored three times and drove in four, and Bloom scored twice and knocked home four.
The Marauders return to the field for a single nine-inning ballgame against the University of Findlay at 10 a.m. central/11 a.m.
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