(EASTLAKE, Ohio) — On a chilly and overcast Friday afternoon, the Lake Erie baseball team hosted Walsh at Classic Park in Eastlake for a doubleheader. In the first game, the Cavaliers won by a score of 7-2. But in the second game, Trace Peterson's RBI single in extra innings earned the Storm a 3-2 win and a split in the doubleheader.

GAME 1

With a limited roster at his disposal due to COVID restrictions, Lake Erie head coach Gary Vaught had to utilize his available players to their full potential. And in Game 1, Vaught called on junior righthander Tyler Bryant to start the game on the mound for the Storm. Bryant pitched decently, going six innings while allowing four runs and five hits. He ended up throwing 116 total pitches, as Vaught tried to squeeze as much out of Bryant as he could before making the call to the pen. Redshirt senior Chris Mutter would enter the game in the seventh, allowing an additional three runs in two innings. Tristan Mayer would then pitch a scoreless ninth.

But with the Walsh offense being so prolific, scoring seven times, including a two-run home run by catcher Jacob Beachy in the top of the seventh inning, it was hard for Lake Erie to catch up. a Jacob Lozinski RBI groundout in the second inning put the Storm on the board, and a Reed Collins RBI double in the sixth got them their second run (Collins would bat an impressive 3-4 in Game 1). But that would be all the scoring the Storm would do in this one, as Cavaliers starter Drew Saunier went eight innings, allowing six hits, striking out 10. He would be awarded the win, while Bryant would find himself with the loss.

GAME 2

A loss in the first game wouldn't be enough to dampen the Storm's spirits though. They came back out in Game 2 and played solid baseball, only giving up two runs thanks to a superb outing from junior starting pitcher Cade Wendel, who pitched the full eight innings for Lake Erie. The scoring in this game went back-and-forth, as both sides had a chance to win. First, Walsh got on the board on a Wendel wild pitch in the top of the third, before Lake Erie would respond in the bottom of the third with a Trace Peterson RBI triple to center. Walsh would then take the lead again in the top of the fourth, when a Jarret Lyon RBI single plated their second run.

Being a seven-inning game, Lake Erie had less time to mount a comeback than they otherwise would in a normal nine-inning game. And as the game came down to the wire in the bottom of the seventh inning, with the Storm at imminent risk of being swept in the doubleheader, up to the plate stepped sophomore Spencer Crane, who had just come into the game as a pinch hitter. With the Storm trailing with mere outs to go, Crane socked an RBI double to right field to tie things up at two and send the game into extra innings.

In the top of the eighth, Wendel and the Storm did their job and held the Cavaliers scoreless. Then in the bottom of the inning, Walsh pulled starting pitcher Hyatt Shenefield for reliever Dylan Corsi. But Corsi would only be able to get one out before Peterson's aforementioned RBI single to right plated Jesse Barrios and sent Lake Erie and their fans home happy.

These two clubs plan to play two more games on Saturday, as the second doubleheader between Lake Erie and Walsh is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. EST.