CLARKSVILLE, Ark. – After falling short in a 5-4 nail-biter earlier in the day, the Grinnell College baseball team stormed back with a vengeance against the University of the Ozarks Sunday afternoon.
The Pioneers rapped out 14 hits, spreading the wealth with six players getting two each, in an 11-8 victory over the Eagles in the final contest of a three-game series.
Niko Takayesu '17 had a triple and single with four RBIs to lead the Pioneers' charge,
Matt Hammond '17 and
Michael Slattery '18 hit a double and single each and
Andrew Shults '19,
Sam Galanek '18 and
Brad Weaver '18 added two singles apiece. Galanek had three RBIs.
Shane Comiskey '18 tossed 1-1/3 innings of scoreless ball to earn the victory in relief.
Ben Binversie '17 closed out the game, scattering three hits in 2-1/3 innings while fanning two batters.
Grinnell turned what had been a close game into one that wasn't with a huge seventh inning, scoring six runs on six hits. Slattery knocked in the first run with a sacrifice fly to left field, Takayesu ripped a two-run triple to left-center, Shults plated a run with an infield single to the left side and Galanek added a two-run single, making the score 11-7.
The Eagles scored one run in the bottom of the ninth before the Pioneers closed the door to improve to 3-4 on the season. The Eagles dipped to 8-9.
Grinnell opened the scoring with a run in the first when Galanek plated a run with a fielder's choice. The hosts took a 3-1 lead with one run in the second and two in the third, but the Pioneers tied things in the fourth when Takayesu reached on an error to push across two runs.
Grinnell went up 5-3 in the top of the fifth when Hammond scored on an error and
Nathan Zaroban '18 hit a sacrifice fly to right. However, Ozarks tied it with two runs in the bottom of the fifth and scored twice in the sixth before Grinnell's huge rally.
The hosts built a 5-0 lead in the opener with a run in the first and four in the third. That's when Grinnell made things interesting, beginning with a two-run fourth inning when Hammond knocked in a run when he reached on an error and later scored on
Ben Spencer's '20 groundout.
The Pioneers added a run in the sixth when Spencer scored on an error, and tallied again in the eighth on Weaver's RBI single to right-center. But that's as close as Grinnell could get as Ozarks held on for the win.
Sam LaMotte '20 was the pitcher of record for Grinnell.
Next up: The Pioneers remain in Arkansas, heading southeast to Conway to take on Hendrix College in a 2 p.m. matchup Monday.
