WARREN, Mich. – You deserve it, Monarchs! Macomb Baseball swept Mott Community College with a pair of 5-4 wins, the latter coming in walk-off fashion to improve the Monarchs winning streak to three games. Thursday's wins were the first MCCAA Eastern Conference victories of the season for the Monarchs.

GAME ONE: Macomb 5, Mott 4
Ryan VanSlambrouck (Macomb, Mich./Dakota) got the nod and worked six impressive innings on the mound to record his second win of the campaign. VanSlambrouck held a high-octane Bears offense to five hits across his six innings on the hill and punched out out four to lead the Monarchs to victory. Brendan Bos (Howell, Mich./Howell) came on for the final inning and earned his third save of the season after holding the Bears scoreless.

Offensively, the Monarchs started strong with a first inning leadoff single by Jeremy Pudlik (Waterford, Mich./Waterford Mott) followed by a well-placed bunt single by Logan Rybarczyk (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay). The back-to-back hits led to an early 1-0 lead.

The Monarchs put two more on the board in the second inning when Logan Ramsey (Warren, Mich./Warren Mott) hit his first home run in a Monarch uniform. The Ramsey home run—a two-run shot—left the park quickly and gave the Monarchs a 3-0 lead through two innings of play.

Mott responded by plating three runs in the fourth to tie it, but the Monarchs had a response of their own in the form of a Reese Rinna (Richmond, Mich./Richmond) two-RBI double. Rinna's double was driven over the left fielder's head to extend the Monarchs lead to 5-3 in the fifth inning.

Mott scored a run in the sixth to make it 5-4 but Bos came on in the seventh for the save as the Monarchs secured their first conference win of the 2023 season.

Pudlik and Rybarczyk paced the Monarchs with two hits each, while Ramsey and Rinna drove in two runs each in the one-run victory.

GAME TWO: Macomb 5, Mott 4
Josh Medrano (Surprise, Az./Shadow Ridge) got the scoring started in the nightcap with a two-run, power alley blast over the wall in left center in the second inning. The two-run home run was Medrano's third of the season and put the Monarchs on top 2-0 early in Thursday's latter contest.

The Monarchs scored a run on a failed pick off by Mott to make it 3-1 in the sixth, but Mott hit a three-run home run in the top of the seventh to take a 4-3 lead. The visiting Bears were down to their final strike before hitting the home run to take the one-run edge.

When it appeared that more late inning heartbreak was on the way, the Monarchs put their heart on display beginning with a leadoff single back up the middle by Logan Ramsey. Down to their last out and with the game-tying run on base, Jeremy Pudlik drew a walk to put runners on first and second for Logan Rybarczyk and the sophomore delivered with a walk-off triple deep into the right center gap for the 5-4 victory.

On the mound, new Rochester University commit Ryan Polega (Macomb, Mich./Henry Ford II) continued his stellar sophomore campaign with another impressive performance. Polega went the distance and only gave up three hits, most of the damage coming on Mott's seventh inning home run. The sophomore struck out six batters and kept the Bears at bay throughout the nightcap to earn his second win of the season.

UP NEXT: The series finale
The Monarchs will visit Flint for a doubleheader against Mott Saturday (April 22) beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday's games will mark the end of the five-game series between the Monarchs and Bears this season. The games will be played at Ernie Meyers Field at Flint's Kearsley Park.