MORGANTOWN, West Virginia – The Lake Erie baseball team competed in the Atlantic Region Crossover with games against #19 Illinois-Springfield on Friday, Lock Haven on Saturday, and Fairmont State on Sunday. The Storm would hold an early lead, but the Prairie Stars would pull away late for a 5-2 win. The Storm came away with a high-scoring 11-10 win in extras against the Bald Eagles. The Falcons would hold off the Storm 10-8 in another high-scoring affair. Head coach Shaine Carpenter would pick up his first career win against Lock Haven. 
 
Team Records
 
Lake Erie: 0-8
Illinois-Springfield: 8-3
 
Game Recaps
 
Game 1:
Illinois-Springfield- 5
Lake Erie- 2
 
The Prairie Stars would race ahead early to open the Atlantic Region Crossover, putting up one run in the top of the first. The Storm would respond right back in the bottom half, with an RBI single from Teagan Williams, tying the game up at 1. Lake Erie would take a 2-1 in the fourth with an RBI sacrifice fly from Matt Fountain, scoring Brendan Hazuda. UIS would score one in each of the next four innings, moving ahead 5-2. The Storm would struggle to produce any offense after the sixth, dropping the first game of the Crossover 5-2. 
 
W: Ben Benoit (4-0) - 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
L: Luke Reasor (0-3) - 5.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, K
S: Isaac Graf (2) – 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, BB, 3 K
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 5, Prairie Stars- 8
Walks: Storm- 3, Prairie Stars- 5
Strikeouts: Storm- 11, Prairie Stars- 3
Stolen Bases: Storm- 0, Prairie Stars- 2
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 5, Prairie Stars- 3
Strikeouts: Storm- 3, Prairie Stars- 11
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 0, Prairie Stars- 0
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 2, Prairie Stars- 0
 
Game 1 Top Storm Performers: 
 
Jr. Teagan Williams: 1-2, RBI, 2 BB, K
Fr. Koden Bechtel: 2-3, K
R-Soph. Matt Fountain: 0-3, RBI, 2 K
 
The Matchup
 
Lake Erie drops to 2-3 all-time against Illinois-Springfield. This was the first time Illinois-Springfield and Lake Erie faced each other since the 2014 season.
 
Team Records
 
Lake Erie: 1-8
Lock Haven: 1-5
 
Game 2:
Lake Erie - 11
Lock Haven- 10
11 Innings
 
The Storm would jump out to an early 4-0 lead in the top of the first with an RBI single from Brendan Hazuda, an RBI walk from Micah Geise, and an RBI single from Brady Carman. The Bald Eagles would respond back in the bottom half, cutting their deficit to 4-3. Lock Haven would tie the game in the fourth. Lake Erie would retake the lead 6-4 in the fifth on back-to-back solo shots from Teagan Williams and Travis Yankovich, Williams' first of the season and Yankovich's second of the season. The Storm would add one in the eighth on an error, scoring Ty Sowers to grow their lead to 7-4. The Bald Eagles would erupt in the bottom half, putting up six runs on three hits and an error to move ahead 10-7. Lake Erie would respond right back in the ninth, tying the game at 10 with an RBI hit by pitch from Sowers and an RBI single from Hazuda. In the 11^th inning, Hazuda would continue his big day with an RBI single to give the Storm an 11-10 lead. Neeko Spicer would come in and close the door to give Lake Erie their first win of the season in extras 11-10.
 
W: Hunter Lefkus (1-0)
L: Evan Schmelz (0-2)
S: Neeko Spicer (1)
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 15, Bald Eagles- 9
Walks: Storm- 13, Bald Eagles- 4
Strikeouts: Storm- 15, Bald Eagles- 14
Stolen Bases: Storm- 1, Bald Eagles- 0
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 4, Bald Eagles- 13
Strikeouts: Storm- 14, Bald Eagles- 15
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 4, Bald Eagles- 1
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 1, Bald Eagles- 1
 
Game 2 Top Storm Performers:
 
Jr. Teagan Williams: 1-5, HR (1), RBI, 2 BB, 2 R, 
Jr. Brendan Hazuda: 4-6, 4 RBI, BB, R
Jr. Travis Yankovich: 2-6, HR (2), RBI, R, 3 K
 
The Matchup
 
Lake Erie snapped a two-game losing streak against Lock Haven and now move to 3-3 all-time.
 
Team Records
 
Lake Erie: 1-9
Fairmont State: 3-4
 
Game 3:
Fairmont State- 10
Lake Erie- 8
 
The Falcons would fly ahead in the bottom of the first 3-0 on two hits and two errors. The Storm would respond in the top of the second with two runs, cutting the lead to 3-2 on an RBI single from Hunter Aurand. Fairmont State answered in the bottom half with three more runs, growing their lead to 6-2. Dominic Roberts would add a run for Lake Erie in the fourth with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 6-3. The Storm would tie the game at 6 in the sixth with an RBI double from Koden Bechtel, Roberts scoring on an error, and Aurand scoring on a balk. The Falcons responded in the bottom half with three runs to move back ahead 9-6. Lake Erie continue to answer back, putting up two runs in the seventh on an RBI sacrifice fly from Micah Geise and an RBI single from Roberts, bringing the score to 9-8. Fairmont State would add an insurance run in the eighth and hold with a 10-8 win.
 
W: Logan Keepers (2-0) – 1.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R (3 ER), BB, 2 K
L: William Cornett (0-2) – 4.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
S: Cameron Gonzalez (1) – 2.1 IP, H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 8, Falcons- 7
Walks: Storm- 4, Falcons- 9
Strikeouts: Storm- 7, Falcons- 5
Stolen Bases: Storm- 3, Falcons- 2
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 9, Falcons- 4
Strikeouts: Storm- 5, Falcons- 7
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 1, Falcons- 2
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 3, Falcons- 1
 
Game 3 Top Storm Performers:
 
Sr. Dominic Roberts: 3-5, 2 RBI, R, K
R-Fr. Hunter Aurand: 1-5, 2 RBI, R
Jr. Micah Geise: 1-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R, SB, SF 
 
The Matchup
 
Lake Erie dropped to 1-2 all-time against Fairmont State. The only previous time Fairmont and Lake Erie faced each was the 2018 season.
 
Up Next
 
Lake Erie will head back to West Virginia for a series against Glenville State beginning on Saturday, March 7th. 
 
Glenville State is currently 7-4 to begin the season. Recently, the Pioneers competed in the Atlantic Region Crossover, dropping games to Shepherd and IUP, and winning against Walsh. Last season, the Pioneers finished 27-21 overall and 16-14 in the MEC.