Pioneers Split With Henry Ford

Saginaw Township – The Delta College baseball team earned a split with Henry Ford on Thursday, winning the first game 14-11 and dropping the nightcap, 14-11.  The Pioneers are now 24-17 on the season and 12-8 in MCCAA Eastern Conference play.  With eight games to go in league play, DC is now in third place behind Jackson (16-4) and Lansing (15-5) and one game up on Macomb and Mott (both 11-9). 

Game one saw Henry Ford jump out to a 7-0 lead before Delta scored two in the two in the third and four in the fourth to make it a 7-6 game.  With the score 7-2 in the fourth, Mitch Morley hit a double to score three runs before a Zack Booth sacrifice fly scored Morley to bring it to a one-run game.  They would tie the game in the fifth as Z Wesley would walk and eventually score on a wild pitch.

With two outs and the game tied at seven apiece, Cheyne Maier drew a walk and was brought home on a two-run homerun off the bat of Ty Robbins to make it 9-7.  Hunter David upped the lead to 10-7 with a leadoff solo shot in the sixth before Ty Jones would collect a two-RBI single to make it 12-7.  But they weren't done yet as a Maier double scored Jones and an error brought home pinch runner Aaron Esparza. 

The Hawks would threaten in the seventh scoring four runs before Jeff Wright would close the door on the mound to pick up his first save of the season.  Ethan Lesperance was credited with the win for DC throwing five innings and giving up three earned runs on 10 hits while striking out three.   He improves to 4-3 on the year.

Offensively, Delta was led by Morley's two hits and three RBI while Robbins collected two hits including his second homerun of the year. 

The second game was tied at 1-1 heading in to the fifth inning where Henry Ford scored two runs to make it a 3-1 game off of Delta starting pitcher Robin VanOrden.  In the seventh, though, the visitors would plate 11 runs on six hits including a grand slam while picking up six walks to put the game away.

VanOrden took his first loss on the year to drop to 3-1 after throwing five innings and giving up two earned runs on eight hits.  Delta was led on offense by Zach Schirmer with two hits while Zack Booth added a triple. 

"Finals weeks is always a tough week for any team to play well and stay focused," said sixth year head coach Danny Smith.  "We grinded out a couple of wins Tuesday and did the same in game one tonight but it was obvious that our heads just weren't in the game tonight."

"We'll regroup tomorrow and hopefully find the right mental mindset to play better against Macomb."

Delta heads to Macomb tomorrow to start a four-game set with the Monarchs.  First pitch is scheduled for 2pm.