HARRIMAN, Tenn. – Macomb Baseball put the barrel on the baseball early and often, accounting for 14 runs on 14 hits, including a pair of grand slams and three doubles, in a 14-1 win in five innings over NJCAA Division I Roane State Community College.
The host Raiders fell to 15-5 overall after the Monarchs (3-6) picked up their second win over a NJCAA Division I program of the season.
Buster Debol got the scoring started with a two-RBI double in the second inning. The double lifted the lid on a six-run frame as
Nicholas Sandiha Jr. belted a grand slam—his second home run of the season—three batters later to put the Monarchs in front, 6-0.
The offensive onslaught continued an inning later as Debol drove in two more via his second double of the day and
Luke Babcock brought him home on a single through the right side to give the Monarchs a 9-0 advantage in the third.
Vincent Cowdrey cleared the bases with a grand slam of his own three batters later for a commanding 13-0 lead. Cowdrey's grand slam was his second home run of the season.
The Raiders tallied their lone run in the home half of the third and the Monarchs answered their next time up as Debol collected his fifth RBI of the afternoon with a sacrifice fly to left that scored
Dane Richards for the eventual 14-1 final score.
Richards joined the extra-base hit parade with a double of his own in the five-inning victory.
While the bats were hot, so was the right arm of
Johnathan Meyette who recorded a collegiate career-best eight strikeouts while scattering four hits across five innings of work for his second win as a Monarch.
With game two canceled, the Monarchs now head east to Myrtle Beach, SC, where they will play four games in two days at The Ripken Experience. On Friday, the Monarchs take on Region 12 foe and currently undefeated, Bryant & Stratton Ohio, in a doubleheader beginning at 9 a.m. The spring trip closes out on Saturday with a 9 a.m. contest against Ocean County (NJ) and a 12 p.m. first pitch against NJCAA Division III No. 5 Northampton (PA).
