JOES Go 1-1 On The Day

Warren, MI – The Pioneer baseball team played their fifth and sixth contests in three days on Saturday as they finished their season series with the Monarchs of Macomb Community College.  Game one went extra innings with Delta pulling out an exciting win, 4-3.  They fell in the nightcap, however, by the score of 14-9.

In the first game of the day, DC took an early 1-0 lead when Cam Fowler singled to center before being moved up to second on a Mitch Morley bunt.  Zach Schirmer then beat the center fielder on a double to the fence to score Fowler.  Macomb would tie the game with a single run in the third inning.

Delta again scored a single run in the next inning as Danny Diaz singled, went to second on a Matt Fisher sacrifice bunt and scored on an Aaron Esparza double to right.  Once again, however, the Monarchs answered with an unearned run in the bottom of the frame to tie it at two apiece. 

In the sixth, the Pioneers took a 3-2 lead as Diaz once again led off the inning with a single before moving up a base on a Fisher single to left.  Evan Pocius pinch ran for Diaz and promptly stole third base before scoring on an Esparza suicide squeeze.  But with one out in the bottom of the sixth, Macomb hit a solo homerun and tied it 3-3.

In the bottom of the seventh, Macomb had runners at second and third with one before Pioneer pitcher Drew Schultz got a strikeout for the second out.  An intentional walk loaded the bases before the next Monarch batter laced a rocket to third base where Delta's Lucas Sella dove to his right and snagged the shot to end the inning and force extra frames.

Fisher had a one-out double to get things going for Delta and moved to third base on an Aaron Esparza single.  Sella would then lay down a two-strike squeeze to score Fisher and give DC the 4-3 lead.  Schultz closed the door in the bottom of the eighth to preserve the win while pitching a complete game, eight inning gem.

Fisher and Esparza led the offense with a single and double each while Diaz had two hits and Evan Pocius scored two runs.  Schultz allowed two earned runs on five hits while striking out five to even his record to 3-3 on the year.

Game two saw David Binder pressed in to service in an emergency start when projected starting pitcher Guy Henika was scratched due to injury.  Binder struggled in the first inning, surrendering eight runs but would find his groove allowing two more runs through the next three innings.  Meanwhile, the Delta offense didn't give up and continued to cut in to the lead as they scored two in the second, two in the fourth and five in the fifth to make it a 10-9 game. 

Macomb would get a two-run homerun in the bottom of the fifth to go up 12-9 before adding two more in the sixth to win, 14-9.  Binder took the loss on the mound for Delta dropping his season record to 0-2.  Offensively, Delta was led by Dylan Steinke's three hits including two doubles.  Cam Fowler added three hits four at-bats while Kane Bourbina had two hits, three runs and two RBI.

The split gives Delta a 13-14 overall record and they are 7-7 in the MCCAA Eastern Division on the season.  They finish their eight-game road trip tomorrow as the head to Henry Ford and finish their season series with the Hawks.  The two teams split their first meeting earlier in the year.

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