Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 Wyoming, MI - Grace Christian Baseball hosted the Cougars of University of Cincinatti Clermont on Friday and Saturday for a 3 game set.

Game one was relocated to Cornerstone University on Friday night due to rain and high winds earlier in the day. The game started out with a quality start from Iwan Sitalo, who went 5.2 innings with just 2 earned runs, yet he came out of the game with the score at 1-6. Haydon Koepke came in to pitch next, going 1.2 innings with 1 run given up. The Tigers couldn't get much going with the bats, and the score remained the same, ending at a 1-7 loss. Grace scored their lone run on an RBI single from Jared GArnaat which brought home Eric Whiting. 

Saturday was a much nicer day with weather, but things did not go so hot for the Tigers. UC Clermont got out to a quick 2-0 lead after the first inning and would consistently score throughout the whole game after that. It took Grace until the 6th inning to score their first runs, which came on a 3-run homerun from Reagan Mutschler. Carter Willis was able to add one more run with a homer himself in the 7th inning, but that was all Grace could muster as they fell by a lopsided score of 4-20. 

In the final game on Saturday, the Tigers looked to rebound. Damian Fernandez led-off the game with a double down the right field line, and after reaching third on a passed ball, Jared Garnaat brought him in with a fielder's choice. The Cougars answered with one of their own in the top of second inning, but the score remained 1-1 through 4 innings. John Green threw the first four innings for Grace and had a solid start, allowing just 5 hits. In the top of the 5th inning, Clermont was able to push 2 runs across to take a 3-1 lead. Grace came right back to take the lead in the bottom of the 5th with a 3 run inning, making the score 4-3. Reagan Mutschler, Carter Willis, and Dale Westphal all had RBI's in the inning. In the top of the 7th, Clermont was able to tie it up at 4-4 and send the game to extras after throwing a scoreless bottom half. The 8th inning started off unfortunately for the Tigers. A double followed by a homerun that just snuck over the fence brought the score to 4-6 with no outs. Clermont pushed across 2 more in the inning, and Grace was in a hole with their last chance coming up. Dale Westphal led off the inning with a hit, followed by a walk by Jaden Schoeneman and a hit by pitch by Alex Bonnema to bring a bases loaded situation for Grace. It appeared there was still hope. After a pop up to make the first out, Damian Fernandez hit a fly ball to the warning track to make everyone hold their breath, but it was caught. Despite scoring one run on the sac-fly, Grace made their final out without bringing anyone else around, and the final score ended at 5-8. 

Grace hopes to carry the momentum of their close final game into the upcoming week as they face a tough road match up with Concordia Ann Arbor who has spent time this year in the top 25 NAIA rankings. At the end of the week, the Tigers will travel to Wisconsin for another series with the Sabercats of Maranatha Baptist University.