The Tigers took on IUPUC at home this past weekend in a final three-game series to conclude their regular season. Grace went into this series at 7-29, fresh off a 4-game sweep of Maranatha Baptist University the prior weekend. 

Game 1 of the series on Friday started off with several runs for each team as the Tigers led 5-4 after three innings. In the fourth, IUPUC went on a run, scoring 8 runs to make the score 12-5. This could have easily been the end for Grace, but showing incredible toughness, the Tigers rebounded with 5 runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth, and 6 more in the fifth inning to go back up 16-12. The run support came off of a record breaking 6 home runs in the game by Grace, including two from Jaden Schoeneman, one from Lorenzo Lopez, one from Carter Willis, and one each for AJ Scott and Jared Garnaat who went back-to-back to lead off the 5th inning. A couple more runs would score before Iwan Sitalo would come in for the save, closing out a wild 17-15 victory for the Tigers. 

Game 2 was a different story as the Tigers lost some of the offensive firepower from Game 1. Jared Garnaat threw 4 strong innings in his start, but IUPUC’s offense lost no momentum and continued to hit the ball well. Grace dropped the nightcap 5-17. Jaden Schoeneman and Lorenzo Lopez, however, would not be quieted, garnering two hits apiece including another home run by Lopez. 

The Tigers came into Saturday’s single 9-inning game looking to win the rubber match, and it would indeed be a close game. Grace fell behind in the first inning but scraped back to make the score 2-4 through 4 innings. Iwan Sitalo pitched well, going into the 6th inning before Adam Pierce and Jared Garnaat would finish what he started. IUPUC scored runs consistently throughout the game however, and the Grace offense could only put up a few more runs in the remaining innings. Despite a valiant effort, Grace would fall 5-10 in the final game of the weekend. 

Coach Wolfe had this say about his team’s performance over the weekend, “The guys played hard this weekend, and although we really hoped to win the series, they showed an incredible fight in game one, which gave a bright spot to the whole weekend. Getting a win at home to end the year was special, and now we look to build off of that going into Regionals!”

The Tigers finish the regular season at 8-31, and will get a week off before heading to College of the Ozarks in Branson, MO to play in the Non-Dually Affiliated (NDAG) Regional tournament. The tournament will be a double-elimination format starting on Monday, May 7th. There will be a live stream of all games in the tournament. Check thenccaa.org for more details.