PAINESVILLE, Ohio – The Lake Erie College baseball team hosted the Trevecca Nazarene Trojans for their true home opener of the season on April 2nd and 3rd. The Storm would struggle in the series and suffered their first conference sweep of the year.

GAME 1 - 4/2

The Trojans did not take long to get things going in game one as they tacked starting pitcher Jake Vasil for four runs in the first inning and one more in the second. After those two rocky innings, Vasil would settle down and pitch an impressive four more innings in which he only gave up one hit and struck out four.

In the bottom of the third, the Storm would score their only two runs of the game on an RBI single by Israel Espinosa to score Justin Major and later on Zach Hoskins would score from third as Espinosa attempted to steal second.

Trevecca Nazarene would score two more in the top of the 9th and close out the game in the bottom half with a final score of 8-2.

WP: E. Pleasants (W, 3-2)
LP: J. Vasil (0-5)

GAME 2 - 4/2

Lake Erie managed to get the bats going in game two of the Sunday doubleheader after going down 1-0 in the top of the third. Ty Sowers would kick things off in the bottom half with a walk and Justin Major would follow-up by getting hit by a pitch and Israel Espinosa loaded the bases with a single through the left side.

After a Graham Solak sacrifice fly scores Sowers, Zimba Cadiz doubled and drove in Espinosa and Major to give the Storm a 3-1 lead.

The Trojans would get their lead back in the top of the fourth however by putting up two more runs, added three more in the top of the fifth and two more in the top of the sixth.

Down 8-4, Lake Erie would manage to make things interesting in the bottom of the 6th.

Cadiz would kick things off with a single and advanced to third on a Jacob Mote double. Josue Cruz would get hit by a pitch to load the bases and during the next at-bat Jake Vasil drove in a run with a sacrifice fly down the left-field line. 

With the tying run now in the on-deck circle and just one out on the board, the Storm were unable to score anymore and they ended the inning with two stranded on base.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Lake Erie would show some fight and start to rally again. Zach Hoskins started the inning this time with a double and advanced to third on a flyout by Espinosa. He would score on a single by Solak and Solak would advance to second on a wild pitch. Mote draw a walk in his at-bat and Cruz reached first on an error by the Trojans' third baseman. With the bases loaded and the winning run at the plate, the Storm would record their final out and drop their the game of the day, 8-5.

Cadiz would lead the Lake Erie bats with a 2-for-4 day, two RBI's and one stolen base.

WP: J. Keele (3-1)
LP: R. Helt (0-4)
SV: M. Hock (2)

GAME 3 - 4/3

The Storm continued their series against the Trojans on the campus of Hiram College and looked to earn a series split after their sweep the day before.

Trevecca would jump out to another early lead in the first inning by launching a two-run home run to left field off of starting pitcher Zach Saffell.

Lake Erie would cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third on a Justin Major homer but Trevecca would extend the lead in the top of the fifth with two more runs.

The Storm got things rolling in the bottom of the 6th by captivating on two Trojan errors and scoring two more runs to bring the score to 4-3.

Once again, Lake Erie made Trevecca sweat a little bit in their final inning. Ty Sowers started things off with a single and advance to second on a Justin Major sacrifice bunt. Zach Hoskins walked to give the Storm two runners on with just one out still. Unfortunately, the team would get two straight outs and drop the third game of the series, 4-3.

WP: C. Marks (3-2)
LP: Z. Saffell (1-2)
S: J. Dickson (1)

GAME 4 - 4/3

In the final game of the four-game series, Lake Erie would send freshman Dominic Poltrone to the mound. 

The Storm offense would strike first for the first time in the series on a two-run second-inning home run by Justin Major, his second of the series.

After the home run, the Trojans would cut the lead in half in the top of the third and in the top of the fourth, Trevecca would jump out and score five runs by combining timely hits, walsk and Storm errors, giving them a 6-2 lead.

The Trojans would add two more in the seventh and the Storm bats were fairly quiet the rest of the game, resulting in a 8-2 loss.

Dominic Roberts came off the bench for Lake Erie and went 2-for-2 and accounted for two of the Storm's six hits in the game.

WP: J. Smithson (1-2)
LP: D. Poltrone (2-4)

The series now takes the Storm to 4-23 on the season and 3-9 in conference play. They will be back in action on Wednesday, April 12th at home to take on the Walsh Cavaliers for a two-game series before traveling on the road against Hillsdale and Malone before hosting the Cavaliers again for two more games on April 26th.