CANTON, Ohio – The Lake Erie College baseball team traveled to Canton, Ohio this week to take on the Malone Pioneers. The Storm would suffer a series sweep to the Pioneers and now sit at 4-33 on the season with a 3-19 record in conference play.

GAME 1

The Lake Erie bats were quiet in the series opener but the pitching kept them in the game the whole way. Freshman Jake Vasil got the start on the mound and pitched six solid innings, giving up eight hits, four earned runs, walking four, and striking out four as well.

The Pioneers struck first in the bottom of the third, scoring three runs by piecing together a single and a double. They tacked on two more in the remaining five innings and completed a 5-0 win over the Storm.

In the contest, Lake Erie managed to increase their stolen total on the season by adding four more. Zach Hoskins swiped two bafs while Trevor Smentek and Justin Major each had one.

WP: M. Maurer (5-3)
LP: J. Vasil (0-7)


GAME 2

The Storm kicked off game two of the day by scoring first in the top of the second inning. With the bases loaded, Zimba Cadiz hit a double down the line and scored Ty Sowers and Josue Cruz. The lead would be short-lived, however, as the Pioneers put up five runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

The Storm showed fight though and in the top of the third they busted out a four-run inning, combining timely hits and a Malone error.

The two teams traded leads over the next couple innings and they took an 8-8 tie into extra innings. After a scoreless top of the eighth, the Pioneers kicked off the bottom half with a single, advanced the runner over on a sac bunt, and scored the runner with a single the next at-bat, sending Lake Erie home with a walk-off loss. 

Cadiz and Major led the way with two hits and two RBI's each. Major also stole a base and Hoskins swiped one of his own giving him three on the day.

WP: D. Miler (4-0)
LP: L. Vance (0-2)


GAME 3

Lake Erie traveled back to Canton for day two of their four-game series, hoping to avoid the sweep. Things would not go much better in the first game however, as the Pioneers jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after two innings. 

Lake Erie's only runs came on a Graham Solak solo home run in the third and a Robert Helt two-run shot in the fourth. They would only total three hits in the seven-inning game and fell by a final score of 9-3. 

WP: D. Norton (5-3)
LP: D. Poltrone (2-5)


GAME 4

Just like game two the day before, Lake Erie jumped out to an early lead. With a double by Cruz, a single by Israel Espinosa, and a home run by Helt, the Storm led 3-0 through the first two innings of play.

Malone broke out in the third though for a four-run inning and added three more over the next four innings. Down 7-3 in the top of the eighth, Espinosa hit a sacrifice fly to score a run but by the end of the inning, Lake Erie would strand the bases loaded and eventually fall 7-4 in the contest.

Cadiz went 3-for-5 in the game with a stole base, his 17th of the year which brings him two away from tying the Storm single-season record.

WP: J. Schwalbac (1-0)
LP: J. Poppy (1-3)
S: D. Miller (4)


Lake Erie will be back in action on Wednesday, April 26 at home to complete the final two games of the four-game series against Walsh.