Due to the weather conditions in Spring Arbor the field wasn’t fit for play and instead of hosting the Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU) Cougars on April 20, Spring Arbor traveled for an important Crossroads League matchup.

Spring Arbor is in third in the Crossroads League four games behind the first place Taylor University Trojans, but are just one game behind second place MVNU.

SAU carried the momentum from their 17-0 victory over Goshen into game one, scoring two runs in the first on a Shane Street home run. They scored five more runs in the second with Brian Doll, Mark Weist and JP Maracani each earning one RBI and Street earning two more. This put Spring Arbor up 7-0.

MVNU retaliated in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs on four hits. They tacked on four more runs in the fourth to tie the game 7-7.

Spring Arbor was not done scoring yet, posting two more runs in the top of the fifth and regaining the lead by a score of 9-7. Weist hit a home run to start the inning and Jacob Walker earned his only RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly to right.

Jerry Ferris started the game for SAU and pitched through the fifth inning. He gave up seven runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

Alex Zeiher took over the game in the sixth and earned the loss in the game, earning three runs on three hits. Eddie Rakotz also made an appearance on the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Spring Arbor struck first in the second game, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Maracani earned his only RBI of the game on a ground out to third base and Weist scored on a throwing error by MVNU’s Riley Swanson.

They would score three more runs in the fourth to go pull ahead 5-0. On a Jonathan Newman single to right Maverick Nichols and Tyler Baker came around to score. Two batters later, Street singled on the left side and scored Walker.

Those five runs were all Spring Arbor needed to protect the win for starting pitcher Greg Blanco. Blanco had a shutout bid through the sixth before giving up two runs in the bottom of the seventh ending the game with a score of 5-3.

SAU has moved to an overall record of 19-14 and a conference record of 15-5. The Cougars will be facing off against MVNU at home on April 23. Game one begins at 2 p.m.

[WRITER’S NOTE: ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON WWW.SAUCOUGARS.COM]