Baseball sweeps Saints, including thrilling 14-inning 5-4 win

(Adrian, MI) - The Rochester Christian baseball team headed down to Adrian, Michigan, for a doubleheader against the Siena Heights Saints on Saturday afternoon.

GAME 1 - ROCHESTER CHRISTIAN 8, SIENA HEIGHTS 0

Lance Jones (4-1) earned the win on the mound for the Warriors, pitching six strong shutout innings, allowing two hits with five strikeouts. 

All eight of the Warrior runs would come in the first four innings of play, as RCU scored two in the first, one in the second and fourth, and four in the third inning. 

Cael Kuzinski began the day by getting hit by a pitch, eventually coming around to score on a wild pitch and Issander Vega, who reached via a walk, scored on an Aiden Alspaugh RBI groundout. Beau Falkenhagen earned the run in the second inning, crossing the plate on a Parker Lassner sacrifice fly. 

In the third inning, Vinnie Campisi, pinch running for Aiden Alspaugh after a double, would come around to score following an Saints error. Beau Falkenhagen would then score Nathaniel Crane and Dakota Shafer with an 2-run RBI double. Matthew Shakotko rounded out the inning with an RBI single. 

The final RCU run came off the bat of Nathaniel Crane as he hit a sacrifice fly to score Issander Vega, who walked and stole both second and third. 

Between Matthew Redmond and Colin Presnar, they were able to work around the limited baserunners to complete the shutout. 

Colin Presnar closed out the final inning of play with a shutout inning, allowing one baserunner with a strikeout. 

GAME 2 - ROCHESTER CHRISTIAN 5, SIENA HEIGHTS 4 - 14 INNINGS

Matthew Redmond began the game on the mound, pitching the first six innings, allowing three hits on two runs (both unearned) with nine strikeouts. 

The second inning saw the first scoring action with the Warriors, putting up a trio of runs. Jayden Peterson earned an RBI single with Beau Falkenhagen scoring, Cael Kuzinski hit an RBI double, scoring Parker Lassner, and Jayden Peterson would then score on a wild pitch. 

The scoring wasn't over in the second inning, as the Saints tallied their first run of the day with an RBI single. SHU got a run closer in the fourth inning, tallying their second RBI single. 

The game continued to be a pitching duel until RCU made it 4-2 in the seventh inning on a Jayden Peterson sacrifice fly to score Vinnie Campisi. The next two innings, though, would see the Saints rally back with a run in each in order to make the game a 4-4 tie heading into the ninth inning. 

Both teams would go 1-2-3 in the ninth inning, sending the game into extras. The tenth inning saw RCU load up the bases, in part due to two intentional walks, before a strikeout ended the opportunity. The Saints were able to get runners at first and third with two outs, before a strikeout on their end would end their chance. 

Between the next three innings, RCU and SHU would leave a total of six runners on base as neither team was able to get a run across the plate. 

For the second time in extra innings, RCU would load the bases with a Cael Kuzinski double, an Aiden Alspaugh walk, and a Dakota Shafer intentional walk, before Nathaniel Crane would work his second bases-loaded walk of the week (with the first also giving RCU a late lead against Madonna on Monday). The one run would be enough for Jeffrey Preston as he went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 14th with a pair of strikeouts.

Landon Fahey got two outs in the seventh inning, with one run on one hit with a strikeout. Joey Wagner finished out the seventh and eighth innings by allowing only one run on two hits with four strikeouts. 

Jayden Peterson would pitch a bulk of the extra innings, throwing in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelveth inning with one hit allowed and four strikeouts. Jeffrey Preston (1-0) would earn the win in the match closing out the final two innings with a pair of baserunners and two strikeouts. 

UP NEXT

The Warriors will be right back in action on Sunday, April 12, as they play host to the Northwestern Ohio Racers at UWM Field in Utica, Michigan, with a doubleheader beginning at 1 PM.