LAKE WALES, Fla. – Warner came into the day with a 4-3 overall record and after 14 innings of exciting baseball between the Royals and Vikings of Grand View University, the Royals are now 4-5.
These were the first two games of the year for the Vikings and after two great games the Vikings start their year 2-0, after throwing a shutout to win game 2 of the double-header today.
Both games today were only set for 7 innings.
Game 1: (GV – 3; WU – 2)
Freshman
Luby Fields took the mound for the Royals in game 1 of today and pitched very well, throwing 5.1 innings and only giving up 2 earned runs before being relieved by
John Bean.
The Vikings took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the 2
nd inning and held that until the Royals tied the game up 1-1 in the bottom of the 4th inning.
In the top of the 5
th the Vikings jumped back out in front 3-1 after scoring 2 runs on only 1 hit in the inning.
Warner answered with 1 run of their own in the bottom of the 5
th but were not able to tie the game and trailed 3-2 after 5 innings of play.
Grand View was able to solidify the win after bringing in their closer, Nick Johnson, who threw 3 shutout innings to grab his 1
st save of the season.
Daniel Coca led the way for Warner with a 2-3 performance at the plate. Coca came into the day hitting .333 and bumped his average up after the stellar performance in game 1.
Game 2: (GV – 1; WU – 0)
Sophomore
Luke Myers took the mound in game 2 for Warner and pitched 5.2 innings before being relieved by left-handed pitcher
Andrew Yarbrough with 2 outs in the top of the 6
th inning.
Grand View jumped ahead in the 1
st inning, grabbing a 1-0 lead and never looked back, as their starting pitcher, Aaron Buford, pitched a complete game shutout.
The Royals had several opportunities to tie the game, even late in the 7
th, getting
Jan Martinez to 3
rd base with 2 outs, but were unable to get a run on the board and suffered their first shutout loss of the season.
Trevor Thomas notched a perfect game at the plate in game 2, going 3-3, with 3 singles.
Warner ended the day having left a total of 17 runners on base in both games and will have a few days to snap out of the funk they are in and right their ship, as they are set to play TSC foe Keiser University next Tuesday at home.