Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Spartans of Aurora University hosted the Dominican University Stars on Thursday afternoon at Solfisburg Park with AU celebrating senior day in between games. Celebrating was done throughout the
day as the Spartan bats led to the doubleheader sweep of Dominican, winning 25-1 and 12-2, both in seven innings.
Game One
Aurora 25 Dominican 1 (7 innings)
AU wasted no time in showing the visiting Stars that game one would go the Spartans way. The senior laden Spartan lineup exploded for seven runs and six hits in the first inning and would score no less than three runs in each of the first five innings.
Senior
Tim Mackey got the home team going with a double to lead off the first and was followed by an
Van Asdlen would not disappoint the home crowd as he blasted a towering home run to left field that cleared the trees in left field and landed on the Burlington Northern railroad tracks for a 4-0 AU lead. The home run by Van Asdlen was just the start of a record setting day for the senior.
After the grand slam, junior
Cory Walden, junior Mike Foley and senior
Ryan Payne hit back-to-back-to-back doubles to give AU a 6-0 lead with no outs. Payne would eventually come around to score on a ground out by senior
Bobby Wilson.
Sophomore starting pitcher
Brad Warnecke gave Dominican no opportunity to respond in the second inning to bring his red hot offense back to the plate.
With one out, Adams would walk ahead of Van Asdlen and quickly came around as Van Asdlen hit his second home run of the game in as many at bats, this time easily clearing the scoreboard in left center field. One out later, Foley joined the home run parade to give the Spartans a 10-0 lead after two innings.
Dominican showed some signs of life in the third inning with the first two hitters reaching on an error and an infield single. But Warnecke got out of the possible jam with a line out and he then picked off the
runner at first base on a set play before educing an inning ending pop out to center.
AU continued to add runs in the third inning with a home run coming into play again. Wilson hit his first of the season with one out to get another big inning started. Singles by Mackey and Olavarria and a double by Adams plated two more runs and Adams scored on a sacrifice fly-out by Van Asdlen, his seventh run batted in of the game.
After another quick inning by Warnecke, AU went back to scoring runs. Foley and Payne both reached by a hit-by-pitch and freshman
Tanner Oymaian reached on a fielder's choice (error) by the first baseman to load the bases. Wilson then reached via a hit-by-pitch to tally a run batted in. Mackey and Adams would both drive in runs by the sacrifice fly allowing Van Asdlen to step to the plate. As he had
done in his first two at bats of the game, he promptly deposited the Star pitch well beyond the left field fence. The three-run home run gave him three in the game and set an AU single game record for runs batted in with 10 in the first four innings, breaking the previous record of eight set in 1996 by Corey Breyne.
As Head Coach Shaun Neitzel started to clear his bench with the 20-0 lead, the Spartan bench continued to score runs, tallying five more in the fifth inning. Oymaian hit a two-run homer to right field and Adams joined the home run fest with a three-run blast to deep right center field with his ball landing on Ohio Street.
Warnecke would allow on run in the top of the sixth inning to end his shutout hopes but he would end up scattering three hits over six innings for the 25-1 win, his sixth (6-0) of the season. Every Spartan starter collected at least one hit in the game with Van Asdlen leading with the way going four-for-four with his three home runs and 10 runs batted in.
Game Two
Aurora 12 Dominican 2 (7 innings)
Game two started off with Dominican getting a one-out single and a two-out double. Dominican shortstop
Jon Basinski tried scoring from first on the double but was shot down at the plate on a beautiful relay from Adams to Wilson to junior catcher
Ryan McMahon whose swipe tag beat the diving Basinski in the nick of time.
The Spartan bats took the momentum from the defensive play for senior pitcher Steve Sitterly and began their offensive portion of game two exactly how they began game one, scoring runs. Mackey reached on a lead-off double, stole third and came in to score on a throwing error by the Star catcher for a quick 1-0 AU lead. With one-out, Adams doubled, stole third and then scored on a single by Van Asdlen who continued to drive in
runs. After one inning of play, AU led 2-0.
Sitterly coasted through the Star lineup in the second and third inning allowing his offense to continue to give him run support. AU got one run in the second inning via a Dominican throwing error on a pick-off attempt and then three runs in the third inning. In the third, Olavarria double to right center field and moved up to third and then scored on wild pitches. Adams walked to bring up Van Asdlen with the home crowd wondering if he could continue his hot pace at the plate. Dominican continued to pitch to Van Asdlen as he hit a towering home run to left field for his fourth of the day and giving him 13 runs batted in through a game and three innings. AU led 6-0.
Dominican got a run on Sitterly in the fourth inning with the run scoring on a balk by Sitterly. After a quiet
fourth inning in which AU would not score despite having a runner in scoring position, Sitterly made sure to quiet any Star thoughts of getting back in the game, putting the visiting bats down in order in the inning.
AU responded with three more runs of support for their pitcher in the fifth inning with the home run being a vital part of the scoring. Adams and Van Asdlen each singled to start the inning before Walden hit a three-run home run to center field to give AU a 9-1 lead. The home run was AU's ninth thus far on the day.
The Stars scratched across a run in the sixth inning to cut the lead to 9-2 but that was ac close as the visitors would get as the Spartans ended game two in seven innings, scoring three times in the bottom of
Foley connected for his second home run of the game, a two-run blast that landed on Ohio Street. McMahon the doubled to keep the inning and the threat of an early game end a possibility. Oymaian singled to right with McMahon moving to third. After Oymaian moved to second on a wild pitch, Wilson was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out and bringing Mackey to the plate. Mackey did not disappoint the home crowd as he lined a single to left field to drive in McMahon with the game ending run.
Sitterly improved his record to 6-1 on the season with seven innings allowing six hits, two runs and striking out two. AU pounded out 15 hits in game two, 34 on the day while scoring 37 runs in two games.
With the win, AU finishes the regular season with a 32-8 overall record and 18-4 in the NAC. Next action for the Spartan baseball team comes in the 2012 Northern Athletics Conference Tournament. AU will either be the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the tournament. Game time and opponent will be determined at a later date.
