Huntingburg, IN – On a weekend, where the weather was beautiful, the Eagles of Alice Lloyd College traveled to Southern Indiana for a River States Conference series against the Mighty Oaks. Two shutouts and a nailbiter in the third game created an eventful Senior Day weekend in Huntingburg.
Game 1
On Friday, the Mighty Oaks pitching staff combined for a shutout, allowing only four hits.
Hunter Callahan started the game, went four innings, giving up two hits, no runs, while walking two and striking out four. His reliever was
Owen Spears, he earned the win. Spears threw the remaining five innings, allowing two hits, no runs, while he walked zero and struck out eight.
The good job on the mound allowed for the Mighty Oaks offense to get away with only a couple of runs. After a lot of hard contact, without any luck, Oakland City opened the score in the fifth inning. A lead-off double from
Victor Alvarez got the inning going.
Garrett Causey followed with a walk, a single from
Oliver Hamilton allowed Alvarez to score.
Jared Kirkman got hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Aron Busick followed with a sacrifice fly, on which Causey scored. This made the score 2-0 in Huntingburg.
Oakland City added one more in the eighth.
Aron Busick led off with a bunt single. Singles from
Xander Willis and
Sam Pinckert loaded the bases. Another big hit from
Victor Alvarez allowed Busick to score the 3-0.
This would end up being the final score on Friday, giving the Mighty Oaks the first win of the series.
Game 2
After two innings of scoreless baseball on Saturday, the Oakland City bats got hot. In the third,
Oliver Hamilton led off the inning with a single,
Aron Busick also singled. A throwing error from the right fielder allowed both runners to advance one base, putting two guys in scoring position for
Noah Baugher. He delivered with a double, giving the home team their first two runs.
An inning later,
Garrett Causey started another big inning with a double to right field. He scored when
Treven Madden reached base on a fielding error. Basehits from
Jared Kirkman and
Aron Busick loaded the bases. Two more RBIs from
Noah Baugher followed, when he singled to right field.
Xander Willis tripled, allowing
the Mighty Oaks to score their sixth and seventh run of the game.
The lead grew even more in the fifth inning. A walk for
Victor Alvarez, hit by pitch for
Garrett Causey and a single for
Treven Madden loaded the bases with no outs. A single from
Jared Kirkman scored a run and an error on the play plated another run. The bases loaded back up before
Noah Baugher drew a walk to give Oakland City a 10-0 lead.
Xander Willis singled up the middle to score two more runs. The lead grew to 13-0 on an RBI groundout from
Sam Pinckert.
One more run was scored in the bottom of the sixth when
Treven Madden scored on an RBI single from pinch-hitter
Brandon Skaggs. The Oakland City pitching staff combined for a shutout in seven innings, that's how long the game took due to the mercy rule.
Christian Burgrabe was the winning pitcher, throwing five innings in which he gave up four hits, no runs, he didn't walk any and struck out one. His relievers were
Weston Allen and
Garrett Whiteker who both put up a zero on the bump.
After the first game of the double header, the Seniors got recognized on the field during the Senior Day ceremony. The Seniors for the 2023 Mighty Oaks are
Brad Weber,
Noah Gilbert,
Treven Madden,
Jared Kirkman,
Victor Alvarez,
Garrett Whiteker,
Jackson Pullen and
Josh Jagelewski.
Game 3
The third game of the series went a little different than the first two. In the first inning, the Eagles of Alice Lloyd college were able to score their first run of the weekend. The Mighty Oaks retook the lead in the bottom half of the first frame. Back-to-back triples from
Aron Busick and
Noah Baugher allowed for a good start. Singles from
Xander Willis and
Sam Pinckert followed, before
Victor Alvarez doubled to right field. A sacrifice fly from
Garrett Causey put the score at 4-1.
A three-run homerun for Alice Lloyd in the third inning tied the game. Not much later, a scary moment occurred when relief pitcher
Tyler Butler threw a pitch and grabbed his elbow in pain. Butler left the game and
Gehrig Tenhumberg came in to take over the pitching duties.
In the bottom of the third,
Xander Willis hit another triple to lead of the inning. He was brought home on a sacrifice fly from
Sam Pinckert, putting the Mighty Oaks back in the lead.
Another three-run homerun from the Eagles followed in the top of the fourth. Oakland City lost their lead again, the score was now 5-7.
The Oaks got one run back in the bottom half of the inning after a single from
Noah Baugher with the bases loaded.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, a big homerun from
Aron Busick scored three runs, putting the Mighty Oaks back in the lead. The score was now 9-7. This would remain the score as closer
Evan Price came in to shut the door in the seventh inning.
The pitchers for Oakland City were
Ben Simmons (2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO),
Tyler Butler (0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO),
Gehrig Tenhumberg (2.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO),
Milan van der Breggen (W, 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO) and
Evan Price (S, 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO).
Oakland City's overall record is now 27-14 and their River States Conference record is 10-11. Next week, the Mighty Oaks will be looking to extend their winning streak which is currently at four games. On Wednesday, coach Andy Lasher and his squad will head to Evansville to take on the Screaming Eagles of the University of Southern Indiana (NCAA Division 1) and on the weekend, they will travel to Circleville, Ohio to take on Ohio Christian University in a very important conference series.
