AUBURNDALE, Fla. – What a way to end the day! Macomb Baseball picked up their first win of the season in dramatic fashion, securing a 4-3 victory over Vermilion (MN) in the nightcap on a play at the plate to improve to 1-5 on the season. Earlier in the day, the Monarchs fell just short in a defensive battle with Bryant & Stratton (OH) by a 3-2 final.
GAME ONE: Bryant & Stratton (OH) 3, Macomb 2
Bryan Masterson (Roseville, Mich./Roseville) got the start and performed well, going four and a third and only giving up a pair of runs. Unfortunately for Masterson, the Monarchs' bats couldn't get going and plated one run during his appearance (two overall in the game) as the Blue & White fell by the one-run decision.
Ethan Miller (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay) was called into relief duty for the second time this season and shut the opposition down once again with two and two-thirds innings of one-hit, four-strikeout ball.
At the plate, the Monarchs were led by
Jack Lyndrup (Macomb, Mich./L'Anse Creuse North) and
Logan Rybarczyk (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay) who drove in a run each while combining to go 2-for-5 in the opener.
GAME TWO: Macomb 4, Vermilion (MN) 3
First the first five-plus innings, Tuesday's nightcap belonged to
Joey Tedesco (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North), a transfer southpaw from NCAA Division II Hillsdale College. Tedesco was dialed in from the start, punching out the first batter on his way to a collegiate-best nine strikeouts. Thanks in part to a stellar defense backing him up, Tedesco only allowed one hit through five solid innings of work and was charged with two earned runs after being lifted from the game with no outs in the sixth inning.
Brendan Bos (Howell, Mich./Howell) came on in relief of Tedesco in the sixth and struck out two while giving up one unearned run to earn his first collegiate win.
As for the game flow against Vermilion, the Monarchs scored first, going ahead 1-0 on a
Griffin Baalaer (Macomb, Mich./L'Anse Creuse North) RBI single to right field that scored
Josh Medrano (Surprise, Az./Shadow Ridge). Two innings later, the Monarchs connected on back-to-back-to-back singles and went station-to-station to load the bases with nobody out. Despite loading the bases with no outs, the Monarchs were only able to plate one run on a
Connor Armstrong (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Chippewa Valley) sac fly that brought a tagging
Jack Lyndrup in to score.
In the fifth, the Monarchs would benefit from a balk call that allowed
Logan Rybarczyk to score from third to give the Blue & White a 3-0 lead. Vermilion answered with three runs in the sixth, but the Monarchs had an answer of their own in the home half of the inning. A Lyndrup walk allowed the Monarchs to tab speedster
Jeremy Pudlik (Waterford, Mich./Waterford Mott) as a courtesy runner. From there, Pudlik drew an errant throw from the pitcher on a pick-off attempt that allowed him to move first-to-third on the error. Pudlik advanced home on a passed ball a couple pitches later to represent the winning run.
The Monarchs needed to hold off Vermilion one more time and did just that when the Blue & White made a play at the plate in walk-off fashion to prevent Vermilion from tying the game.
Baalaer paced the Monarchs at the plate by accounting for half of the team's hits in a 3-for-3 performance that also featured a run batted in and a stolen base.
