After dropping the second game on Saturday, the Cougars were in a must win situation against the Taylor University Trojans on Monday afternoon.

The Cougars, who were barely hanging on to the top spot in the Crossroads League, lost both games in the series, 8-1 and 8-7.

They dropped to third in league standings; just three games behind Taylor and one game behind second place Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU).

Dane Staples took the mound for the Cougars during game one. The duo of Nick Lockman and Heath Sullivan took over for Staples during the fifth inning. Lockman finished the inning and pitched the sixth before turning the ball over to Sullivan who shut down the Trojans in the seventh.

The dominating Cougar offense was silent during the first game. They only scored one run to Taylor’s 8.

The Cougars lone run came in the third inning, in response to the Trojans run in the second, when Shane Street singled in Billy Hochradel. The Trojans offense dominated after that, scoring three runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth.

Heading into the second game of the day, the Cougars were not willing to go down easy. They out hit the Trojans 11-8 and scored runs in third, sixth and seventh falling just shy of victory, losing 8-7.

After a three run second inning by the Trojans the Cougars answered with two runs of their own in the third. Brian Doll hit his second home run of the season after Jonathan Newman singled to start the inning. Brandon Katta, who was pinch running for Newman, came around to score with Doll.

The Trojans’ offense kept the momentum scoring another run in the fourth and four more in the fifth, putting them up 8-2.

Adding a run in the sixth when Tyler Baker grounded out, but scored Mark Weist who reached third after a double and balk by Taylor pitcher Jordan Coffey the Cougars headed into the seventh ready to rally.

With one out, Newman singled to center and Katta entered the game again as his pinch runner. Zach Watson followed with a single. Doll then hit into a fielder’s choice, advancing Katta to third and Watson was forced out at second. With two outs, Doll stole second which Street followed with a two RBI double. The Cougars were within three runs, down 8-5. Mark Weist singled and stole second, putting both runners in scoring position. JP Maracani batted in the Cougars last two runs with a single. The inning ended when Baker grounded out to first with a final score of 8-7.

Hochradel started the game on the mound giving up seven runs on six hits in four innings. Lockman gave up one run and one hit before handing the ball over to Eddie Rakotz. Rakotz pitched three innings and gave up only one hit.

The Cougars began their series against Goshen College, who is on a seven game losing streak, on April 16 at home. Game one begins at 2 p.m. at Burbridge Field.

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