Delta Drops 3-of-4 Over Weekend

University Center, MI – The Delta baseball team dropped three out of four games over the weekend, losing two to Kalamazoo Valley on the road on Saturday before splitting with Jackson at home on Sunday.  The Pioneers now stand at 3-5 in the conference and 11-12 overall. 

On Saturday, DC took an early 3-0 and led 4-2 heading in to the sixth as Austin Dingee limited the Cougars to just four hits through the first five innings.  He was relieved by Jake Lesniak who struggled to get KVCC out and eventually gave up four runs in the inning.  Delta threatened in the seventh but stranded the game tying run at first base in the 6-4 defeat.

Lesniak took the loss to drop his record to 1-1 on the year. 

The second game saw Kalamazoo pick up three runs in the first inning before Delta starting pitcher Jacob Gross could settle in.  The Pioneers answered with two of their own in the top of the second courtesy of RBI's by Jordan Jachens and Zack Booth.    KVCC again went ahead by three in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead into the final frame.

A one out single by Booth was followed by a two out single by Justin Heinlein before Z Westley scored both on a gap shot double to right-center to make the score 5-4.  With the tying run at second base, Dean Marais was induced into a fly ball, however, as the comeback bid ended in a 5-4 KVCC victory.

Gross took the loss on the mound to push his record to 1-2 on the season while Marais led the offense with two singles, a run and a stolen base.

Desperately needing a spark on Sunday, the Pioneers took the field against MCCAA First place Jackson Community College and quickly got on the board on a Zack Booth squeeze to make it 1-0 after two innings.  But the Jets showed why they undefeated in the league when they hit two bombs in the third inning to go up 5-1. 

Delta scored a single run in the fourth to close the gap to 5-2 while DC starting pitcher Matt Sahr continued to keep Jackson scoreless.  In the bottom of the fifth, the Pioneers strung together three straight singles off the bat of Derrek Clyde, Brady Marwede and Z Westley to make it a 5-3 ballgame.  A Dean Marais ground out made it 5-4 and a Ty Jones sacrifice fly tied the game at five apiece.  Marais would score on a balk to give Delta a 6-5 lead heading in to the sixth inning.

Jackson started the sixth with a walk but a 5-6-3 double play ended the threat and DC tacked on another run in the bottom of the frame to make it 7-5 in favor of the hosts.  Tyler Robbins would close the game in the bottom of the inning to pick up his second save of the year.

Clyde had two hits to lead the offense while Marais had a pair of RBI's, a stolen base and a run.  Sahr evened his record at 2-2 on the season with the win.

Game two saw Jackson score six runs in the second inning to win going away, 13-1 in a five inning mercy game.  Thomas Fortney took the loss to drop his record to 1-2 on the year.  Drew Harding had a single and scored a run for Delta.

The Pioneers play at Northwood on Monday in a non-league game before returning home on Tuesday to face league foe St Clair County.  Game time for Tuesday's game is 2pm.