Lions take win at home
BREMEN — Bremen baseball hosted Elkhart Christian in a unique game that saw the Lions as the visiting team on their home field, due to – you guessed it – adverse weather from Monday night impacting field conditions. Although the Lions ran into some trouble late and couldn’t muster a big inning, they wore down the Eagles with sound situational hitting and a number of effective pitching performances to take a 7-3 win.
Bremen got things started in the top of the first when catcher Zack Rouch tripled home Corban Van Vuren. Rouch came in to score on JJ Cencelewski’s RBI groundout, putting the Lions ahead 2-0. Starting pitcher Casey Ton was in complete command, needing only 26 pitches to get through two hitless innings. Back-to-back doubles from Rouch and Cencelewski put the Lions up 3-0 in the top of the third.
Zack Buszkiewicz took the ball in the bottom of the frame and fired two scoreless innings of his own, only needing 23 pitches to record the six outs. Bremen extended the lead to 4-0 after Jace Pippenger’s bunt single set up a RBI ground out from Landon Bates, which brought in Max Barnes. A two-out RBI single from Aiden Alvarado in the 5th plated Maddux Hickman, upping the count to 5-0 Lions. JJ Cencelewski cruised through the bottom of the 5th, only needing 11 pitches to get 3 outs.
Bremen added a sixth run in the top of the 6th when Pippenger scored on Rouch’s sac fly. ECA answered with one of their own in the bottom of the frame. Pippenger singled in pinch runner Braeden Corwin in the top of the 7th, extending Bremen’s lead again, this time to 7-1. Brady Krumrie took the hill in the bottom of the 7th and got the first out before handing the ball off to Aiden Alvarado to get Bremen out of a late jam. When the dust settled, 16 different Bremen players appeared in the game, all of them making away with a 7-3 victory for the team’s sixth win in seven tries.
Bremen will square off with Knox on Thursday at home, before heading to Starke County for a rematch on Friday. Both teams bring an undefeated conference record into the matchup.
•BREMEN 7, ECA 3
Hitters
C Zack Rouch: 3-3, 2 2B, 3B, R, 2 RBI, Sac Fly
2B Jace Pippenger: 2-3, R, RBI, HBP, SB
LF JJ Cencelewski: 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, SB
Pitchers
Casey Ton: 2.0 IP, W, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K
Zack Buszkiewicz: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
JJ Cencelewski: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Aiden Alvarado: 0.2 IP, SV, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K