Cougars Finish Regular Season with Senior Celebration and Walk-Off Victory
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
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1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 1 |
(Howell, MI) -- The Cleary Cougars Baseball team welcomed the Rochester Christian University Warriors to Lake Trust Stadium this afternoon. Before the games started, the Cougars celebrated the Senior class, which included 14 players on the team.
In Game 1: Pitcher Jacob Savina took the mound as the starting pitcher for the Cougars and set the tone of the game right away by setting down the side in order. The Cougars would go down in order as well in the first inning, setting us up for a pitchers' duel. Gavin Kempainen picked up the game's first hit on a bunt single with two outs in the third inning. Pitcher Jacob Savina carried his no-hit bid into the sixth inning, but it would end with two outs in the inning with a swinging bunt single. The game would remain scoreless through all seven innings, and the game would head to extras. Austin Vincent led off the bottom of the eighth with a single to centerfield and would be pinch-run by Peyton Mullins. Gavin Kempainen would place a perfect sacrifice bunt down to move the runner to second, followed by a Conner Boone single to have runners on first and third. Brendan Seman would step to the plate and deliver the walk-off single to send the Cougars home with a 1-0 win.
Jacob Savina (5-1) got the start for the Cougars on the mound and was lights out with a final stat line of 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, and 2 SO. Brendan Seman finished 2-4 with an RBI at the plate.
In Game 2: The Warriors got their first run of the day right away, wasting no time to take a 1-0 lead after the top of the first inning. The Cougars immediately responded with an RBI infield single from Hector Montilla to tie the game at 1-1 after the first inning. Rochester Christian would be able to scratch off one run in each of the second and third innings to take a 3-1 lead over the Cougars. In the fourth, Braylon Hughes would come up with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 3-2. Coming down to the wire in the seventh, Ryan Rose would deliver the game-tying run with a single into left field that scored Conner Boone. Once again, the game would go to extra innings, where Rochester Christian took the lead with a lead-off solo home run to kick off the eighth inning. The Cougars would get the tying run on third base in the bottom half of the inning, however, they were unable to score as Rochester Christian took the game at 4-3.
Nate Raniszewski got the start on the mound for the Cougars and finished with a stat line of 2.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, and 2 SO. Conner Boone finished 3-5 with a run scored at the plate.
The Cougars finish the regular season with a 23-25 overall record and a 13-15 WHAC Conference record. We currently await the final standings of the WHAC Conference to determine if the Cougars will play in the WHAC Conference Playoff Tournament. If the Cougars finish as a top-eight team in the WHAC Conference, it would give them a chance to play in the WHAC Conference Playoff Tournament for the first time in program history. We currently await the final seeding for them due to a four-way tie scenario between Cleary, Lawrence Tech, Lourdes, and Siena Heights for the 6-9 seeds. More information will be posted once we know the final seedings.
