ADRIAN, Mich. – Siena Heights baseball catches two big wins on Wednesday, March 30th in a home doubleheader against Grace Christian. Hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the first the Saints jumped to a 10-0 start and never looked back, ending with a 15-3 victory over the Tigers.
Game 1: SHU 15, Grace Christian 3 – 7 innings
Leading for the Saints was Cole VanWasshenova with three runs one RBI and one stolen base. Adam Wilding hit a grand slam in the first, scored twice, and collected six RBIs. Parker Mabe went 2-for-3 and crossed home plate once as well as tallied an RBI. Chris Winkelman batted 1.000 going 2-for-2 from the plate. He also scored twice and brought in one run. Jacob Jackson (1-for-3) added one run to the score as well as one RBI. Cameron Hammer, Jakob Scroggie, Matthew Love, Thomas Lamnek, Brad South, and Cody Henderson all registered runs for SHU. Zach Bloom (W, 1-4) started on the mound facing 16 batters, striking out four and allowing no runs. Pitchers Ryan Sullivan and Luc Olson wound see action later in the game facing 11 batters combined
The bottom of the first inning saw 10 runs for the Saints as their batts couldn't miss the ball. Mabe reached base on a single and was followed by Henderson who was hit by a pitch. VanWasshenvoa's eye earned him a walk to first base making the bases loaded as Wilding stepped up to the plate and knock a grand slam out over the right-field wall.
A Strong showing from the mound and the defense resulted in no hits from the Tigers in the first five innings. In the bottom of the fifth Siena would add five more runs to the board after an RBI double from David Walling brought two Saints home. Anothy Scali added the last two runs with a double to center field that put the score at 15-0.
Grace Christian would find a rhythm in the top of the seventh to score three runs, unfortunately not enough to overcome SHU, the game ended with a score of 15-3 in favor of the home team.
Game 2: SHU 10, Grace Christian 3 – 7 innings
Jacob Jackson led for the Saints in game two battling 2-for-3 from the plate scoring two runs and bringing in four RBIs. Cameron Hammer batted .750 crossing home plate twice and tallying two RBIs. Chris Winkelman (2-for-4) and Adam Wilding (2-for-3) each put two runs on the board for SHU. Haydn Smith (2-for-4) and Cole VanWasshenova (1-for-4) reached home once during the second game of the day. Parker Swarts (W, 1-4) started on the mound for Siena seeing action in six innings while facing 24 batters and striking out seven. Jarret Cousino faced five opponents and sat down one.
Another strong bottom of the first for Siena saw four batters cross home plate, two from Jackson's RBI single up the middle. Strong defense from the home team once again kept the Tigers scoreless until the top of the third, making the score 4-2. Two more runs were tacked on for SHU due to an error by the visitor. Scroggie would step up to hit and allow Jackson to run home extending the lead to 7-2.
SHU would score one run in the fifth thanks to a sacrifice fly out to right field from Mabe that scored Jackson. Two more runs were added to the scoreboard by Siena in the sixth as both Wilding and VanWasshenova ran home. Grace Christian would score once in the top of the seventh making the final score 10-3.
Up Next – SHU travels to Ann Arbor, Michigan to compete in WHAC conference play against the Concordia Cardinals. The game is scheduled for 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM on Saturday, April 2nd.
