SSU Baseball runs winning streak to six straight with doubleheader sweep at Miami-Hamilton (W 12-3, 13-4)

HAMILTON, Ohio -- The baseball program at Shawnee State continued its strong work at the plate Wednesday evening in a nonconference doubleheader against Miami-Hamilton -- as the Bears posted 25 runs on 21 hits in a doubleheader sweep of the Harriers, winning by 12-3 and 13-4 margins at Foundation Field in Hamilton, Ohio.

Shawnee State (9-4) ran its winning streak up to six straight with the two wins -- as the Bears scored in eight of the 16 innings contested between Game 1, a nine-inning affair, and Game 2, a seven-inning contest.

Game 1

Despite the final margins, Wednesday's opener was competitive throughout the first six innings of action -- as Shawnee State and Miami Hamilton battled to a scoreless tie over the opening four frames.

While the Bears weren't able to put any runs on the board during that stretch, Jacob Wiersma more than held his own on the mound -- as Wiersma struck out at least two batters in each of the four innings that the junior from Zanesville, Ohio threw all while not allowing a hit over those four innings. Wiersma did walk two batters and had two hit by pitches, but Miami-Hamilton never seriously threatened with their bats as SSU maintained control of the point throughout.

In the fifth frame, Shawnee State dented the score column as the Bears reached on two errors in between a single by Nolan Tressler, and from there, a bases loaded walk by Diego Mendoza, a wild pitch, and a steal of home by Eli Jones allowed Shawnee State to take a 3-0 lead after five innings of work.

Trent Tice, who came on in relief of Wiersma in the fifth frame, allowed a leadoff single, but followed that up by forcing a double play, then got two strikeouts in the sixth inning to keep Shawnee State's lead at a 3-0 margin.

In the seventh inning of work, the Bears put up a crooked number to blow the score wide open -- as Shawnee State produced a seven-spot in the seventh frame. Two walks, three hit by pitches and an error resulted in three Shawnee State runs alone in the seventh, while Tyler Lund, who came up with the bases full, nabbed a three-RBI triple to clear the bags and extend the SSU lead to a 9-0 count. Tressler then came back up and brought in Lund with his sacrifice fly RBI -- concluding the massive inning and giving Shawnee State a 10-0 lead after seven innings complete.

Miami-Hamilton scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to cut Shawnee State's lead slightly to a 10-2 count, but in the top of the ninth, the Bears answered back as two walks, an error and a sacrifice fly by Wyatt Haupt brought in Shawnee State's final pair of runs to conclude the scoring on SSU's end.

In six innings of work on the mound, Wiersma and Tice combined for 11 strikeouts while allowing just one hit between them -- while Lund (1-for-3, walk, triple, three RBI, two runs scored), Tressler (1-for-4, walk, sacrifice fly, RBI, run scored), Haupt (1-for-4, walk, sacrifice fly, two RBI, run scored), Mendoza (1-for-3, two walks, run scored), Hunter Warner (1-for-2, walk, RBI, run scored) and Mason Reid (1-for-3, run scored) all joined the hit column.

Game 2

While Miami-Hamilton responded to the Game 1 setback by taking an early 3-0 lead in Game 2, the lead evaporated as Shawnee State kicked things into high gear from the second inning onward offensively.

Mason Reid's leadoff double in the second inning was followed by Hunter Warner's RBI single in the same frame to cut the Harriers' lead to a 3-1 count, and after a single and a steal of second base by Tyler Lund, Jace Parnin's RBI single scored Lund to bring Shawnee State to within 3-2 following the conclusion of inning No. 2.

By the time Zach Gaspar's one-out triple in the third inning was followed by a passed ball and a balk, Lund had produced an RBI single to score Ryan Scott -- giving Shawnee State the lead for good as the Bears took a 4-3 lead after the third inning of competition had been completed.

It only got better from the Bears from there on in.

After a leadoff single by Diego Mendoza and a hit batter allowed Warner to deliver again with another RBI single to give Shawnee State a 5-3 lead after five innings of work, the Bears then proceeded to put up a five-spot in the sixth as a walk by Jace Parnin, a single by Mendoza and an error led to a two-RBI double by Warner and a two-RBI single by Gaspar. Scott then continued the terrific damage that SSU's bottom of the order produced throughout Game 2, as his two-out base knock scored Gaspar to complete a five-run sixth and give the Bears total control again with a 10-3 cushion in the bag.

Shawnee State then proceeded to complete the scoring in the seventh on its end -- as after three walks by Nate Mentzel, Kyle Gillespie and Warner loaded the bases, Gaspar, Scott and Lund did their jobs, once again, as the trio each nabbed RBI singles to complete the Shawnee State scoring.

Despite giving up three runs in the opening inning of play, senior pitcher James Bodrock battled his way to a respectable outing, notching six strikeouts to two walks in four innings of work and not allowing a run after the opening frame. Relief pitchers Evan Hood and Brandon Lehman combined for five strikeouts behind Bodrock with Hood throwing a spotless fifth and sixth to help Shawnee State build its advantage.

Offensively, Lund (4-for-5, two RBI, run scored), Gaspar (3-for-3, triple, three RBI, two runs scored), Warner (3-for-4, double, walk, four RBI, two runs scored) and Mendoza (2-for-4, run scored) each enjoyed multi-hit outings, while Scott (1-for-3, two walks, two RBI, run scored), Parnin (1-for-3, walk, RBI, run scored) and Reid (1-for-3, double, two runs scored) concluded the strong up-and-down hitting performance in Game 2 by the Bears, who scored in six of the seven innings in Game 2 to run away with matters.

Additional

Winners of six straight now, Shawnee State will head off to Owensboro, Ky. Saturday and Sunday afternoon as the Bears take on Brescia, Ky. in a three-game set. Saturday's single nine-inning affair will begin at 4:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. CT while Sunday's doubleheader will commence at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT.