Baseball concludes regular season with series win over Defiance, clinching first-ever WHAC Tournament Appearance

(Rochester Hills, MI) - The Rochester Christian baseball team took on a four-game series against the Defiance Yellow Jackets on Friday afternoon, with the series concluding the final games of the regular season. 

The Warriors would earn a sweep on the first day of play to capture their first-ever appearance in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) tournament. 

GAME 1 - ROCHESTER CHRISTIAN 8, DEFIANCE 7

Lance Jones began the game on the mound for RCU, pitching five innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits with six strikeouts. 

The Yellow Jackets picked up the first pair of runs in the game off an RBI single and a sacrifice fly in the second and third innings, respectively. 

Aiden Alspaugh first got the Warriors on the board in the third inning with a sacrifice fly to center field, with Kayvon Justice, who had been hit by a pitch earlier in the inning, coming home to score. 

DC built the lead out to five runs with a solo home run in the fourth, followed by a pair of RBI singles to score three runs in the fifth inning. 

Aiden once again provided the Warriors with some offense with a two-run RBI single to score Kayvon Justice and Ryder Zeiman, making the score 6-3. 

The sixth inning saw the Yellow Jackets add an insurance run with an RBI single. 

The Warriors began their comeback in the sixth inning, scoring a trio of runs. Beau Falkenhagen began the inning with a single and would then score on a Matthew Shakotko single to left center field. Kayvon Justice then hit a ball to deep left field for a two-run homer, drawing RCU to within a run. 

Down a run heading into the final inning, Issander Vega began the inning with a bang, tying the game at seven runs apiece with a home run to left center. A couple of batters later, Beau Falkenhagen would walk it off with a deep shot to center field. 

Joey Wagner pitched the sixth inning, allowing one run on three hits. Jayden Peterson (1-2) pitched a clean, 10-pitch inning in the seventh to earn the win. 

GAME 2 - ROCHESTER CHRISTIAN 5, DEFIANCE 4

Matthew Redmond began the game on the mound for RCU with six strong innings. Redmond would allow three runs on five hits with a trio of strikeouts. 

The second game of the weekend series would be tight all the way throughout, as it began with only one run scored in the first three innings. DC grabbed the early lead in the second inning with an RBI single before adding a second run in the fourth with a solo home run. 

The Warriors hit right back, tying the game in the bottom of the fourth with Kayvon Justice coming through again with his second home run of the day. 

Both teams added a run in the fifth inning to keep the game tied as both hit RBI groundouts, with Aiden Alspaugh bringing in the RCU run. 

The Warriors would take the lead in the seventh inning on a Cael Kuzinski RBI single and a Beau Falkenhagen fielder's choice. DC hit back with a single run in the eighth inning, making it 5-4, before Jayden Peterson was able to come in and pitch a 1-2-3 ninth inning to secure the Warriors a spot in the WHAC playoffs. 

Will Pflaum (1-0) entered the game to pitch the seventh and eighth innings, striking out four batters, while allowing one unearned run. Jayden Peterson (6 Saves) entered in the top of the ninth inning, setting the Yellow Jackets down in order with a strikeout. 

GAME 3 - ROCHESTER CHRISTIAN 7, DEFIANCE 4

Collin Presnar opened the first 3.2 innings for RCU, allowing three runs on four hits with four strikeouts. 

The first three innings saw both teams score three runs each, as each time Defiance tallied a run, RCu would respond right back in the bottom half of the inning. After Defiance took an early 1-0 lead, Dakota Shafer tied the game up with an RBI single to score Ryder Zeiman. Shafer would once again come up with a big hit in the third to once again retie the lead with a two-run home run. 

DC would earn its final lead in the game in the fifth inning with an RBI single, before the Warriors responded right back with a trio of runs. Dakota Shafer worked a bases-loaded walk, before Beau Falkenhagen reached on a fielder's choice, and Parker Lassner got hit by a pitch with the bases still loaded. 

The sixth inning had Aiden Alspaugh reach first on a fielding error, with Issander Vega able to come around to score from second. 

Landon Fahey would come in with runners at first and second and would induce an inning-ending groundball to his sole batter. Dakota Shafer (3-5) would close out and earn the win in the final three innings, allowing one run on two hits with a strikeout. 

GAME 4 - DEFIANCE 18, ROCHESTER CHRISTIAN 10

Jeffrey Preston pitched the first two innings with three unearned runs allowed on two hits with a strikeout. 

Both teams earned runs in the first inning, with Defiance sending three runners to cross the plate to RCU's four. Aiden Alspaugh, Dakota Shafer, and Beau Falkenhagen hit three straight RBI doubles before a Niko Lahr single scored the fourth RCU run. In the second inning, Issander Vega got a fifth run up on the board after doubling, stealing third, and scoring on an error. 

Both teams would once again tack on runs in the third inning, with Defiance grabbing three and retaking the lead with a three-run home run in the top half, before RCU scored four and took their final lead of the game. Parker Lassner hit an RBI single to score the first run of the inning for RCU before Cael Kuzinski hit a three-run home run to left field for the 9-6 lead. 

That lead would not last long as DC was able to grab 12 of the next 13 runs in the game over the next five innings, with the sole RCU run coming on a Parker Lassner RBI double, scoring Kayvon Justice.  

Louis Frontero, Keaton Diserens (0-3), Connor Forman, Joseph Arends, Gavin Swigart, and Christian Rivera would pitch the final seven innings to close out the regular season. Frontero and Rivera both struck out three batters, while Diserens and Arends each struck out two batters. 

UP NEXT

The Warriors will appear in their first-ever WHAC Tournament this coming week, with the tournament beginning on Wednesday, April 29, as the Warriors will take on the Madonna Crusaders in the opening round at 12 PM.