Delta Splits Thriller with Henry Ford

Taylor, MI – The Delta College baseball team split a road series with Henry Ford Community College on Friday, winning game one 4-3 before dropping the nightcap, 4-0.  The Pioneers are now 15-14 overall on the season and currently sit at 6-6 in league play.

In game one, Delta took a 2-0 lead in the third inning as Zack Booth led off with a single before stealing second base.  A Derrek Clyde single moved Booth to third where we would score on a Brady Marwede squeeze.  Clyde would come around to score on a wild pitch later in the inning. 

Delta upped the lead to 3-0 in the following inning on walk, a stolen base and an error. In the fifth, they would make it a 4-0 game as Tyler Robbins collected a two-out single and moved to third on a single by Jordan Jachens.  Robbins would then score on the front end of a double-steal.

Meanwhile, Delta pitcher Austin Dingee was having no issues dealing with the Henry Ford offense.   But a two-run homerun in the sixth made it a 4-2 game and when the first two batters of the seventh reached with zero outs, he was lifted in favor of Jake Lesniak.  That's when things really got interesting.

With two runners on and no outs, Lesniak surrendered a single to the first batter he faced to put runners on the corners with the score 4-3.  He would then proceed to strike out the Hawks next batter before getting a game-ending 1-6-3 double play for his third save of the season.

 "Jake saved us again," said head coach Danny Smith.  "He's been big for us all year and that one right there was one of the bigger ones."

Game two saw Henry Ford take a 1-0 lead in the second inning without the aid of a hit off of starting pitcher Thomas Fortney.  They would extend the lead to 2-0 in the fourth after a walk, a wild pitch and a single.  Two more would score for Henry Ford in the fifth on an error, three walks and a single to make it 4-0 which is where it remained.

"I can't figure this team out," said Smith.  "We have great wins and then we have head-scratching losses.  Very seldom this season have we put all facets of the game together at once."

"But, we're still in the hunt for the post-season at the midway point so hopefully we'll figure it out before it's too late."

Delta is currently tied for fifth in the MCCAA, one game behind fourth place Muskegon Community College.  The top six teams in the conference make the Region XII tournament.  The Pioneers travel to Muskegon tomorrow for a double-header with the Jayhawks that could go a long way in determining their post-season plans.

"This week was huge for us," said Smith.  We needed to go 6-0 or at the very least 5-1 to feel good about our post-season chances.  And that is still a possibility if we play our best games against a tough, tough Muskegon squad."

First pitch is scheduled for 1pm.