AUSTIN, Texas. – The George Fox baseball team continued their Texas road trip with two games Saturday, the first ending a ninth-inning heartbreak against the Concordia (Texas) Tornados, followed by an 8-2 thumping of Schreiner University.
How It Happened - Game One
The game against Concordia would take a much different shape than their 20-3 win over Schreiner the day before; in a cold morning game against the Tornados, the teams combined for three runs, with the winning two Concordia runs coming in the ninth inning in a heart-wrenching walk-off loss for GFU.
The Bruins got on base right away in the top of the first, with leadoff man
Noah Meffert drawing a walk before advancing to third after an Evan Balinglit double. However, the pair would wind up stranded on base, as the next three Bruins' batters struck out at the hands of the Tornados. The Bruins responded by stranding a Tornados' base runner after a great defensive play stopped a runner from advancing on a sacrifice bunt — with pitcher
Aidan Rady quickly settling in with two putouts. The Bruins scored the first run of the game on an errant throw by the Tornados catcher to third base as he was trying to catch
Bleu Ellis stealing, Ellis took the opportunity to slide into home and score the first run of the game.
Both teams' pitching staffs would lockdown for the remainder of the game, as neither team could get a run across until the bottom of the ninth. Bruins' starter Rady went three and two-thirds innings, allowing six hits while picking up a pair of strikeouts. The rest of the GFU staff for the game held down the fort while the offense struggled to figure out the Tornado's pitching. Fox had a knack for stopping the Tornados from bringing runners home, as they stranded 12 Concordia base runners on base.
In the final half inning, the Bruins held a slim 1-0 lead, needing three outs to walk away with a narrow victory. The Tornados opened the inning with a hit before an error by the Bruins allowed the tying run to advance to third. The next batter a passed ball at home allowed the Tornados runner to score and moved the runner from second to third. Two batters later, the Tornados hit a walk-off single, handing GFU the loss, 2-1.
How It Happened - Game Two
In their second game against Schreiner – their final game against the Mountaineers for the tournament – the Bruins used a pair of three-run innings in the fifth and sixth to handle the Mountaineers and wrap the day.
After both teams went scoreless in the first two innings, both Schreiner and Fox scored a run in the third – Fox scored with a
Jeremy Sangalang sacrifice fly to center field that scored Meffert from third. With the game tied 1-1, the Bruins struck big in the fifth; with second baseman
Jared Miller standing on second, and Meffert at first, Evan Balinglit hit a two-RBI triple that scored the two of them, putting them up 3-1. After Balinglit's RBI, Sangalang grounded out to the second baseman, allowing Balinglit to score.
In the sixth Schreiner responded with an unearned run after an error by the Bruins, shrinking the Fox lead to 4-2. The Bruins were unfazed, though, answering with another three runs in the bottom half. Balinglit scored Meffert again — this time with an RBI single while Meffert was on second. The Bruins proceeded to load the bases, with Balinglit on third, Sangalang on second, and left fielder Isaac Synder on first.
Bleu Ellis hit a sharp grounder to the Mountaineers' third basemen, who then had a fielding error that scored both Balinglit and Sangalang. The bottom of the sixth ended with the Bruins up, 7-2.
The Bruins tacked on one more insurance run in the eighth with an Ellis RBI single, pushing the lead to 8-2. The Bruins had
Jonathan Stone come on the mound in the top half of the night to close the game out, which he did in three batters. The Bruins won the game, 8-2, and out-hit the Mountaineers 12-6, while drawing 7 walks.
Top Performances
Evan Balinglit had four hits in the two games, including a double in the first game, and a triple and three RBIs in the second.
Jeremy Sangalang went 2-4 in the second game, grabbing two RBIs and a double, while
Noah Meffert picked up a double on two hits and two walks in the same game. The Bruins pitching staff combined to allow just three runs on the day, getting quality innings from a lot of arms.
Braeden Munger picked up a win with his performance in game time, with
Jonathan Stone securing a save.
Coach's Thoughts
"It was a tough day to be a hitter with the weather the way it was," Bruin head coach
Kevin Kopple said, "Really proud of the way we handled the conditions on the mound. We have to execute better in the future, but we gave ourselves a chance to win the weekend tomorrow."
What It Means
The Bruins are now 2-1 and have swept their tournament games against Schreiner.
What Comes Next
The Bruins play their final game in Texas tomorrow, finishing up the second game of their two-game series against Concordia. The first pitch is scheduled for 9 am PT.
