Charger Bats Come Alive; Sweep Earlham, 16-1, 5-4

After struggling to come up with a win, the ACGC baseball team came up with thirty hits in a doubleheader sweep of Earlham last Thursday. The Chargers recorded twenty one hits in the opener and nine in the nightcap in the twin bill played in Earlham.

The 16-1 rout in the first game ended a five game losing streak for the Chargers that dated back to the season opening loss to St. Albert of Council Bluffs. In Thursday's second game the visitors came up with a run in the eighth inning to complete the double win, 5-4.

ACGC scored in every inning of the opener and was able to end the game by the fifteen run rule after the fourth inning. Every batter in the Charger lineup had at least one hit, with Miles Kading and Newell Rogers leading the way with four hits each.

The Chargers got on the board early wen Charlie Crawford and Brock Littler opened the game with back to back singles. Miles Kading's single drove in Crawford and Cayden Jensen drove in Littler with a single as well.

After Wardyn led off the second inning with a triple, six consecutive batters singled as the Chargers batted around in the inning to score seven runs. ACGC had a big third inning as well in it which it tallied six runs.

Littler pitched all four of the game's innings, giving up four hits while walking four and striking out one Cardinal batter.

Game two provided a different kind of excitement, as the game went into extra innings before the Chargers were able to claim victory. Earlham took an early lead at 1-0 in the first inning and the Chargers tied it up in the second inning when Jensen got on by error, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on another Cardinal error.

The game was tied after three innings at 3-3 after ACGC scored single runs in the second and third frames, and the hosts scored a pair in its third at bat. The Chargers went up with a run in the sixth inning when Wardyn got on by error and reached second base when the ball was misplayed by the Cardinal left fielder. The Charger senior scored on another Earlham error to give ACGC the lead at 4-3.

Earlham once again was able tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning when pinch hitter Grant Mundus walked and advanced to second and third on consecutive ground outs.

He came home to score on a Charger fielding error and the game headed to extra innings.

Wardyn once again scored for ACGC after he singled and advanced to second on a ground out by Tegan Slaybaugh. Wardyn reached third on a passed ball by the Earlham catcher, and came home on Crawford's sacrifice fly.

But the Cardinals were not about to give up, as they managed to load the bases in the bottom of the eight inning on a single and two bases on balls. With the tying run on third, Cardinal Colin Forcht popped up to ACGC pitcher Miles Kading who made a diving catch to end the game and secure the Charger win!

Crawford and Jensen each had two hits for the Chargers, while Rogers and Miles Kading shared the pitching duties. Rogers went the first six innings and Kading threw the final two frames. (Statistics are shown below)

ACGC coach Taylor Morris likes what he sees coming from his team. "The guys continue to play solid baseball and swept a conference opponent. If we keep laying like we did on Thursday night, we will win a lot of ball games the rest of the season."

First game score by inning:

Earlham 001 0--1 4 3

ACGC 276 1--16 21 0

ACGC hitting: (AB-R-H-RBI) Crawford (3-2-2-0) Littler (3-3-2-1) M.Kading (4-2-4-1) Rogers (4-3-4-2) Jensen (5-2-3-5) E.kading (4-3-2-0) Rumelhart (2-0-1-2) Marsh (3-0-1-0) Wardyn (2-2-1-1)

Pitching: (IP-H-R-ER-SO-BB) Littler (4.00-4-1-1-4-1)

Second game score by inning:

ACGC 012 001 01--5 9 2

Earlham 111 000 10--4 8 7

ACGC hitting: Crawford (4-1-2-1) Littler (4-0-1-1) M.Kading (4-1-0-0) Rogers (3-0-1-0) Jensen (4-1-2-1) Rumelhart (4-0-1-0) Marsh (3-0-0-0) Wardyn (4-2-1-0) Slaybaugh (4-0-1-0)

Pitching: Rogers (6.00-7-3-2-7-3) M.Kading (2.00-2-1-1-0-1)