AKRON, Ohio – The Lake Erie baseball team held their home opening series at the University of Akron against the Cedarville Yellow Jackets. The Yellow Jackets would take game one 5-4 with a late rally. Cedarville would take game two with a 4-0 shutout. The Yellow Jackets would go ahead early and take game three comfortably 14-3. Multi-hit performances from Ty Sowers, Matt Fountain, and Brendan Hazuda would lead the Storm to a 9-6 game four victory. 
 
Team Records
 
Lake Erie: 4-18 (3-5)
Cedarville: 11-13 (5-3)
 
Game Recaps
 
Game 1:
Cedarville- 5
Lake Erie- 4
 
The Yellow Jackets would jump on the board in the top of the second, putting up three runs on three hits. The Storm would respond in the bottom half, tying the game at three with an RBI double from Dominic Roberts, an RBI sacrifice fly from Micah Geise, Ty Sowers scoring on an error. Cedarville would finally break the tie in the seventh, putting up one run on two hits. Lake Erie would tie it back up in the bottom half with an RBI sacrifice fly from Travis Yankovich. The Yellow Jackets would put up another run in the eighth and would hold the Storm silent the last two innings, taking game one 5-4. 
 
W: Jordan Geiger (2-0) - 3.0 IP, H, 0 ER, BB, 3 K
L: Andrew Holcomb (0-1) - 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, BB, 2 K
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 10, Yellow Jackets- 12
Walks: Storm- 4, Yellow Jackets- 6
Strikeouts: Storm- 8, Yellow Jackets- 6
Stolen Bases: Storm- 1, Yellow Jackets- 0
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 6, Yellow Jackets- 4
Strikeouts: Storm- 6, Yellow Jackets- 8
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 0, Yellow Jackets- 1
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 2, Yellow Jackets- 3
 
Game 1 Top Storm Performers: 
 
R-Soph. Matt Fountain: 2-4, BB, K
Sr. Dominic Roberts: 2-4, 2B, RBI, K
Sr. Ty Sowers: 2-3, 2B, 2 R, BB, HBP, K
 
Game 2:
Cedarville- 4
Lake Erie- 0
 
Game two would be a fairly quiet game with the only damage coming in the second and third inning for the Yellow Jackets as they would put up two runs in each of those innings. The Storm would get multiple runners in scoring position, but would not plate a run, giving Cedarville a 4-0 shutout in game two. 
 
W: Jensen Wagoner (2-3) - 6.1 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
L: Neeko Spicer (0-1) - 2.0 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
S: Walker Harris (1) – 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 9, Yellow Jackets- 12
Walks: Storm- 4, Yellow Jackets- 5
Strikeouts: Storm- 5, Yellow Jackets- 6
Stolen Bases: Storm- 0, Yellow Jackets- 1
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 5, Yellow Jackets- 4
Strikeouts: Storm- 6, Yellow Jackets- 5
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 3, Yellow Jackets- 0
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 1, Yellow Jackets- 1
 
Game 2 Top Storm Performers:
 
Jr. Micah Geise: 2-3, 2B, BB
Fr. Brady Carman: 1-3
R-Soph. Seth Yacobucci: 1-2, 2B, BB
 
Game 3:
Cedarville- 14
Lake Erie- 3
 
The Yellow Jackets would go ahead early putting up two runs in the first and third innings for a 4-0 lead. The Storm would get on the board in the third with an RBI single from Matt Fountain bringing the score to 4-1. Cedarville would quickly respond in the fourth, putting up five runs on three hits, growing their lead to 9-1. Lake Erie would cut their deficit to 9-3 in the sixth with an RBI sacrifice fly from Travis Yankovich and Brendan Hazuda scoring on a passed ball. The Yellow Jackets would put the game out of reach in the seventh, putting up five runs on one hit and an error. Cedarville would comfortably take game three 14-3, securing a series win. 
 
W: Brody Adams (2-3) – 4.0 IP, 4 H, ER, 2 BB, 4 K
L: Dominic Poltrone (1-4) – 3.0 IP, 6 H, 7 R (6 ER), 2 BB, K
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 6, Yellow Jackets- 6
Walks: Storm- 5, Yellow Jackets- 10
Strikeouts: Storm- 8, Yellow Jackets- 4
Stolen Bases: Storm- 1, Yellow Jackets- 2
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 10, Yellow Jackets- 5
Strikeouts: Storm- 4, Yellow Jackets- 8
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 1, Yellow Jackets- 0
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 2, Yellow Jackets- 0
 
Game 3 Top Storm Performers:
 
Jr. Brendan Hazuda: 2-3, 2B, R
R-Soph. Matt Fountain: 1-3, RBI, R, BB, 2 K
Jr. Travis Yankovich: 0-0, RBI, 2 BB, SF 
 
Game 4:
Lake Erie- 9
Cedarville- 6
 
The Yellow Jackets would get on the board first in the third inning, going ahead 2-0. The Storm would answer in the bottom half, taking their first lead of the series with a 3-2 lead with Ty Sowers scoring on a throwing error, and a two-run homer run Brendan Hazuda, his second of the season. Cedarville would move back ahead in the sixth, going ahead 4-3. Lake Erie would move back ahead, putting up six runs in the seventh, with RBI doubles from Sowers and Matt Fountain, an RBI single from Hazuda, along with Hazuda scoring on a throwing error to bring the score to 8-4. The Yellow Jackets would continue to swarm, cutting their deficit to 8-6. Fountain would add insurance in the bottom half with an RBI double to bring the score to 9-6. Hunter Bays would slam the door for his first save and give the Storm a 9-6 game four victory.
 
W: Luke Reasor (1-4) – 7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
L: Kade Odum (1-2) – 3.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R (4 ER), BB, 2 K
S: Hunter Bays (1) – 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, BB, 0 K
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 7, Yellow Jackets- 9
Walks: Storm- 3, Yellow Jackets- 7
Strikeouts: Storm- 6, Yellow Jackets- 6
Stolen Bases: Storm- 0, Yellow Jackets- 0
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 7, Yellow Jackets- 3
Strikeouts: Storm- 6, Yellow Jackets- 6
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 0, Yellow Jackets- 1
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 0, Yellow Jackets- 3
 
Game 4 Top Storm Performers:
 
R-Soph. Matt Fountain: 5-5, 3 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R
Jr. Brendan Hazuda: 3-5, HR (2), 3 RBI, 2 R
Sr. Ty Sowers: 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R, BB
 
The Matchup
 
With the game four victory, Lake Erie moves to 11-14 all-time against Cedarville. 
 
Up Next
 
Lake Erie will play head to Canton for a midweek non-conference battle against Malone on Tuesday, March 24th.