Upland, Ind. – The Marian baseball team survived a late rally Wednesday in the opening game of the Crossroads League Tournament, taking down Spring Arbor 11-9 to advance into the double elimination bracket on Thursday. Marian’s win moves their record to 23-25 overall on the season.
Davis Enfield got the start in the win-or-go home game, and limited Spring Arbor to one run in the opening inning of the game, as an unearned run would cross the plate with two outs. In the home half, Marian responded with a four-run frame, getting runners on base with a Kameron Salazar single and Rylan Huntley walk. With two outs, the runs started scoring, as Pierson Barnes hammered a three-run to right field, pushing Marian in the lead. Johnny Roeder followed the at-bat with a double to center, scoring on a single from Max Steffen to push the Knights on top 4-1.
Enfield responded in the second and tossed a three-up, three-down inning to shut down the Cougars, and found more run support in the home half as Rylan Huntley delivered a two-out home run, driving the lead to five runs. Huntley’s home run established a new program record for home runs, surpassing the mark recorded in 2022.
With a 6-1 lead at hand, Marian controlled the tempo of the game over innings three through six, as Enfield tossed a pair of scoreless innings in the stretch. Spring Arbor would manage a two-out run in the top of the third inning, but the Knights would get the run back in bottom of the fourth, plating two runs without a hit. Dawson Estep would score on an error in the fourth after initially reaching on an error, and Josh Lamb recorded a sacrifice fly to make the contest an 8-2 affair. Enfield picked up another scoreless frame in the fifth, seeing his offense drive in three runs with Estep, Lamb, and Salazar each recording RBI.
Leading 11-2 after the three-run fifth, Spring Arbor slowly started to make their comeback, getting a solo home run from Ryan Gonzalez. Enfield would get out of the inning with an 11-3 lead, but in the seventh the wheels began to fall off, as a pair of walks and base hit surrounding two fly outs loaded the bases. Marian went to the bullpen with Deacon Spencer entering the game, but the redshirt-freshman was unsuccessful in ending the inning cleanly, giving up four runs in the frame. Spring Arbor’s rally would make the score at the end of the seventh inning 11-7 in favor of Marian.
Jayson Cottrell came on in the eighth inning to attempt a six-out finish, and started his relief outing strong with a scoreless eighth, stranding a two-out walk. In the ninth inning, Cottrell managed to pick up the first two outs with just a single reaching, but the southpaw was unable to cleanly get the third, allowing two more base hits that scored a run. Marian made one final call to the bullpen with starter Chris Adams coming on in relief. Adams would give up a base hit that scored a ninth run for Spring Arbor on his first offering to the plate, but regrouped and threw a strikeout to end the inning, completing the 11-9 victory.
Enfield earned the win on the mound allowing six hits and six runs in 6.2 innings of work, with five of the six runs going in the book as earned. Cottrell pitched 1.2 innings and allowed two runs on three hits, and Adams recorded his first career save, facing two batters. Adams had one strikeout, and Enfield led the way with four of the team’s seven.
Offensively Marian had 11 base hits and recorded 10 RBI, with Lamb, Salazar, and Roeder each having two-hit games. Rylan Huntley went 1-1 with two RBI and two runs scored, walking four times. Barnes led the team in RBI with three, and Salazar finished the game with two RBI.
Marian will take on either Indiana Wesleyan or Taylor on Thursday, pending the result of Grace and Mt. Vernon Nazarene. If Mt. Vernon were to win Wednesday’s play-in game, Marian would take on Taylor at 2:30 p.m. If Grace wins the play-in, the Knights take on Indiana Wesleyan at 11:00 a.m.