NEW CONCORD, Ohio – April 24, 2022 – Hiram baseball swept Muskingum on Sunday afternoon winning two seven-inning games apart of a doubleheader. The Terriers took game one 4-3 and defeated the Fighting Muskies 16-7 in game two.
GAME ONE: Hiram 4, Muskingum 3
After a scoreless inning between both clubs,
Devin Houdeshell blasted a solo home run that put the Terriers ahead early taking the 1-0 lead.
In the next inning, Hiram tacked on another run, this type on an RBI sacrifice fly by
Chaisson Marrs that scored
Connor Bansek.
Muskingum answered the Terriers' run with a sacrifice fly of their own in the bottom half of the inning off the bat of Trey Yoder.
Hiram continued scoring with a bit of a small-ball approach, as
Kyle Adams scored on a wild pitch after hitting a double to lead off the inning.
The final innings of game one would be back-and-forth and busy with each team scoring a run.
With
Jacob Kocuba now on the mound for Hiram, the Fighting Muskies scored one run in the sixth and seventh innings tying the game at three and sending the abbreviated doubleheader into extra innings.
In the eighth,
Tanner Allison hit a clutch go-ahead home run giving the Terriers a 4-3 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, the home team had the tying and winning run in scoring position, but failed to score after Adams caught a line drive for the final out.
Adams had three hits in game one to go along with a run. Along with his solo blast, Houdeshell added another hit, walk, run and RBI in the win.
Robert James started the first game of the day and pitched 3.2 innings giving up one earned run with three strikeouts.
Aidan Stephens was perfect in his 1.1 innings pitched picking up two punchouts.
Kocuba moves to 3-1 on the year getting the win after pitching the final two frames.
GAME TWO: Hiram 16, Muskingum 7
The bats came alive in game two for the Terriers starting with a five-run first inning.
Kyle Workman opened the scoring with a two-run double. Following that,
Chaisson Marrs hit an RBI single, later scoring on a wild pitch.
Michael Corsillo also had an RBI sacrifice fly.
Muskingum answered in the bottom half of the inning with a pair of runs, cutting the lead to 5-2. In the second,
Connor Bansek hit an RBI single, with
Cody Wilson delivering a two-run single in the third.
Now up 8-4, Hiram exploded for a seven-run fourth inning. In the frame, Corsillo,
Curtis Caithaml, Wilson and Bansek all had RBI singles along with Workman finishes the scoring off with an RBI double.
The Terriers tallied one more run in the seventh after
Cody Wilson got hit by a pitch scoring a run.
Wilson and Marrs led the explosive offense in game two with three hits each. Wilson also had four RBI and two runs scored.
Bansek, Workman and Corsillo also had two-hit games each collecting two RBI in the process.
The 16 runs scored are the second-most of the season for Hiram and the most since scoring a season-high 17 runs in the home opener against Pitt. Greensburg on March 17.
Austin Smith earned his first win for Hiram pitching two innings and getting one strikeout. Also in relief,
Zachary Scalf and
Jack Conley allowed no runs with Conley punching out four in his 1.1 innings pitched
With the two wins, Hiram improves to 12-18 on the year as the team enters the home stretch of the season.
Hiram baseball next hits the diamond on Wednesday, April 27 taking on John Carroll at Fishel Field at Proverbs Park with a 4 p.m. first pitch.
