AUBURNDALE, Fla. — The Bethel Pilots (5-9, 0-4) lost the Crossroads League opening series against the Mount Vernon Nazarene Cougars (6-4, 4-0) with losses in games three and four by scores of 11-1 and 7-2.

GAME 1

The Cougars struck in the bottom of the first with a sacrifice fly to right field, then sparked for seven runs in the bottom of the second inning. The Cougars tacked their ninth run at the bottom of the fourth quarter with a sacrifice fly to center.

Bethel put one on the board with Dominic Deisler’s RBI single that plated Tolson; the Cougars ended the game in the eighth on a ten-run rule with an RBI single, making it 10-1, then a sacrifice fly to right field that sealed the game one MVNU victory 11-1.

Lucas Nowacki (1-3) was given the loss after he threw four innings and allowed eight hits, nine runs (four earned), four walks and a punchout. Ethan Lengfelder came in for 3.1 innings pitched, with four hits, two runs, two walks, and two strikeouts, and Quaid Mull closed the game by allowing one hit and finished the seventh inning.

GAME 2

Andres Allred scored Jesse Stout with a groundout to first base in the second inning, but MVNU put up four runs in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single and a three-run error. The Cougars tacked on three more runs with a sacrifice fly to center, then a two-run home run to left field to make it 7-1. The Pilots fought back in the top of the sixth with Chugga Rosario forcing an error at shortstop but would fall short 7-2.

Riley Thomas (2-2) threw four innings and allowed five hits, five runs (one earned), three walks and one strikeout. Peter Wallsmith closed the game with two innings pitched while allowing two hits, two runs, a walk, and a punchout.

NEXT TIME OUT

The Goshen Maple Leafs host the US Highway 20 Cup series in Goshen, Ind., from Friday, Mar. 8 to Saturday, Mar. 9, for a four-game series.