AUBURNDALE, FL – A shutdown relief performance by Travis Stevens and an impressive first start from Jaxon Ford highlighted a comeback victory for the University of Mary baseball team. The Marauders scored the last ten runs in their 10-4 win over Ashland University, the defending GLIAC champion who qualified for the 2016 NCAA regional tournament.
 
Stevens pitched seven scoreless innings after entering the game to start the third. Working quickly, the sophomore from Las Vegas, NV, kept stringing together scoreless inning after scoreless inning, giving the Marauders offense time to find their footing. He allowed just five hits and one walk while striking out five. In three appearances this season, Stevens has yet to give up a run and now has a win and a save.
 
After making his college debut the day before as a pinch hitter, Ford received his first collegiate start and made the most of the opportunity. The left fielder went 3-for-4 with four RBI, scored a run and was hit by a pitch.
 
Mary pounded out 14 hits with six different Marauders posting multiple hits. Andrew Beyer finished 3-for-5, scoring three runs and driving in one out of the leadoff slot. Fellow senior Drew Feuerbach went 2-for-4 with a sacrifice fly, two RBIs and a run scored. The top three hitters in the Marauders lineup – Beyer, Ford and Feuerbach – were a combined 8-for-13.
 
Darius Barlas and Daulton Sauce both had two hits and scored two runs. Sauce also reached base on a walk and was hit by a pitch. Lane Huck had two hits and drove in a run.
 
Down 4-0 after the Eagles scored two runs in each of the first two innings, the Marauders started the comeback with two runs in the top of the third.
 
After a leadoff single by Barlas, the sophomore scored from third on a bunt single by Beyer, who took second on a throwing error by Ashland catcher Jacob Garbarino. Ford followed with a single up the middle on a ball that was knocked down and kept on the infield. No one kept an eye on Beyer, though, who rounded third and scored without a throw to pull Mary within 4-2.
 
Stevens came in the game in the bottom of the third inning and put the Eagles down in order for the first time in the game.
 
Singles by Sauce and Beyer in the fifth inning set the stage for Ford's second hit, a run-scoring single to left. Feuerbach followed with a fly ball to deep right field to score Beyer with the second run of the inning.  
 
With Stevens continuing to post zeros on the scoreboard, including escaping a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the fifth, the Marauders finally managed to take their first lead of the day in the seventh inning.
 
Hit by a pitch to start the inning, Sauce took third when Seth Meide's sacrifice bunt was thrown down the right field line by Eagles pitcher Derek Baker, allowing Meide to take first. After the Marauders senior second baseman stole second to put two runners in scoring position, Ford singled up the middle to score both runners for a 6-4 Mary lead.
 
Sensing the chance to put away the 8^th ranked team in the Central Region, Mary added another run in the eighth. Barlas drove a double to right center before taking third on a Sauce single. With Meide at the plate, Barlas broke for home on a suicide squeeze and scored easy when Meide dropped down the bunt in front of home plate, increasing Mary's lead to 7-4.
 
Mary sealed the game with three runs in the ninth. After Beyer and Ford singled to lead off the inning, Feuerbach lined a single to right. Connor Barleben charged the ball but it skipped by him and rolled to the fence, allowing both Beyer and Ford to score with Feuerbach claiming third. Lane Huck hit a two-out single to score Feuerbach with the final run of the game.
 
Stevens nailed down the win quickly, with just one runner reaching base on a Mary error.
 
Vince Vanata led the Ashland offense, recording four hits and knocking in two runs. JP Sorma hit two sacrifice flies to score two runs.
 
Mary improves to 3-5 with the win. The Marauders close out their Florida excursion against West Virginia Wesleyan on Tuesday at 1:15 eastern / 12:15 central time at the Chain of Lakes Fields in Auburndale.
 
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