Goshen Closes Regular Season With Losses To Cleary
By Seth Wesman
Sports Information Intern
GOSHEN, Ind. — Quinlan Armstrong posted five hits and a sacrifice fly in six plate appearances, but the Goshen College baseball team dropped the final games of its regular season against Cleary University, falling 4-1 and 9-2 Wednesday afternoon.
Cleary (19-27-1) got on the board first in game one when John Malbone scored on a Maple Leaf error with two outs in the top of the second inning. The Maple Leafs (24-29-1) had a chance to tie or take the lead, but stranded a pair of runners in scoring position in the bottom of the inning.
The Cougars tacked on a trio of insurance runs in the fifth behind three hits and another Goshen error to take a 4-0 lead.
Goshen managed to cut into the Cougars’ lead in the sixth inning when Ryan Hartig scored on Spenser Triplett’s double down the left field line. This was as close as the Leafs would come as Cleary held on for a 4-1 victory.
Colby Malson was the Leafs’ starting pitcher in game one and allowed a single unearned run on two hits in three innings before the call to the bullpen was made. Travis Grimm, Braedon Evans and Kyle Kotecki all threw in relief.
Triplett drove in the Leafs’ lone run of the game with Hartig scoring the run. Armstrong led the offense with a 3 for 3 performance at the plate.
Rhett Holwerda threw a complete game with a run against on nine hits with six strikeouts. John Grable and Jordan Hadley each knocked in earned runs with Grable, Nick Hoogerhyde, John Malbone and William Lovell each scoring. Grable led the team with two hits.
Game two saw Cleary again open the scoring in the second inning, this time with a 3-spot to take a lead the Cougars wouldn’t surrender.
Goshen scored twice in the third when Preston Carr was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Quinlan Armstrong hit a sacrifice fly, but that was as close as the Leafs would get. Cleary would put the game out of reach with three runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth to take the day’s second game 9-2.
Brandon Vires got the start for Goshen in game two and threw three-plus innings before Colton Daniel and Seth Lapp each worked a pair of innings in relief.
Carr and Armstrong each drove in runs, which were scored by Brad Lantz and Cody McCoy. Armstrong led the Leafs with a 2 for 2 clip.
Goshen pounded 14 hits in the doubleheader, improving its season total to 461 and matching the all-time single-season school record set by the 2010 team.
Payton Tindall picked up the win for Cleary, throwing five innings and allowing two runs on four hits. Tyler Vaughn threw the final two innings and struck out two with a single hit against.
Andrew Falzone drove in a game-high four runs as Lovell brought home two and Britton Orr recording the final RBI, as well as scoring three runs to lead the team.
Goshen will be back in action on Saturday when they visit Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, in the first round of the Crossroads League Tournament. First pitch for Saturday is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Both teams will advance to play Marian or Indiana Wesleyan on Monday in the double-elimination tournament.