(EASTLAKE, Ohio) — On a chilly Monday afternoon, the Lake Erie College baseball team faced off in a makeup doubleheader with Trevecca Nazarene at Classic Park in Eastlake. In the first game, Trevecca won 11-5, and in the second game, the Trojans won 6-0. Trevecca moves to 19-7, while Lake Erie goes to 4-21.

Game 1

For Lake Erie, the first game of this twin bill will go down as a near-win that the Storm let slip from their grasp. Possessing the lead for the entire game until the ninth inning, the Storm bats came to play, with outfielders Trace Peterson and Jacob Lozinski each hitting home runs in this one. Designated hitter Reed Collins also went 3-5 with a triple.

But no matter how much offensive firepower a team possesses, at some point, it has to rely on its defense to get outs. And unfortunately for the Storm, that has been a tough thing for them to pull off all year. With Lake Erie pitchers giving up 15 hits in this game, they put themselves in a position to have to rely on the fielders behind them to play close to flawless baseball. But they didn't, committing three errors in the game and thus giving the Trojans three extra openings to get back into a game that they trailed at one point by four.

The lopsided score came primarily from a bullpen meltdown by the Storm in the ninth inning. As they headed into the last inning of Game 1, clinging to a one-run lead over the Trojans, the Storm turned back to reliever Ryan Middendorf, who had come in in the previous inning and fared well against the Trevecca bats, not allowing a run in the process. However, he gave up three runs in the ninth (two earned) to give the lead to the Trojans. Cade Wendel then came in to finish off the inning, but not before Trevecca added another four runs to its lead.

Middendorf would end up taking the loss, while Tyler Koprowski would get the win for the Trojans. Other pitchers to make appearances in the game for the Storm were Ryan Lally, Tyler Bryant, and Chase Tompkins.

Game 2

Game 2 was much more one-sided than Game 1 was, despite the fact that the scoring differential was equal for both. But in this one, which only lasted seven innings, Trevecca made it clear early on that they fully intended to sweep this two-game set from the Storm.

Putting up a five-spot on Lake Erie in the first inning by following a sacrifice fly with two RBI doubles and two RBI singles, all in the same inning, Trevecca put the Storm in a hole that they were never able to climb out of. Still recovering from the shocking way in which they lost Game 1, the Storm found it hard to mount a comeback in this one, once again committing three errors in the field. Offensively, despite two players having multi-hit performances (Drew Donaldson and Nate Birtley), Lake Erie never really found their groove. And playing seven innings instead of nine meant that they had six less outs to work with to try to pull off something incredible.

Winning the game for Trevecca was pitcher Alex Clouthier, while Tristan Mayer got the loss for the Storm.

Next up on the Storm's schedule is a weekend series at Malone. The first two games are planned for Friday in Canton.