CLEVELAND — The Truett McConnell baseball team took one of two from Marian University Friday afternoon, winning game one, 7-2, before falling in game two, 4-3. The Bears are now 12-4 on the season.
In game one, the Bears wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as they put two up in the first inning. After a leadoff single, Chris Carden hit a RBI double to bring Austin Bishop home to take the lead. Carden came home two batters later on a Tate Gaines RBI groundout.
Neither team scored until the Bears got back on the board in the fourth inning. The Bears sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning. Austin Thomas brought home the first run after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Then, Davis Dasher hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Andrew Fogarty. Calob Rowland kept it going with a RBI double, scoring Josh Johnston before Carden brought home two more on a single to center.
The Knights got two runs in the final frame, but Gregory Elder shut them down to earn the complete game win. Elder finished with eight strikeouts.
Game two saw the Knights crack the scoreboard first as they put three up in the top of the second, highlighted by a Jordan Jackson homer to left field.
TMU got two runs back in the bottom half of the frame as the Bears loaded the bases and were able to scrape two runs across. The Bears tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth when Bishop hit a RBI double to score Johnston, but Marian scratched one more run in the top of the seventh to earn a split.
The Bears and Knights will finish the season series with a doubleheader tomorrow starting at noon.
