CALEDONIA, Mich. -
Keegan Batka struck out a season-high 11 and improved to 6-1 this season in a 7-4 win over Parkside in the series opener on Friday. Batka struck out the first three batters and then fanned two more hitters in the second inning. Batka eclipsed his previous high of eight strikeouts by the end of the fourth inning. He went six innings and allowed three hits and one earned run. Batka leads the GLIAC with 63 strikeouts this season and is third in wins and ERA (2.29).
Davenport got all of their offense in the bottom of the first with seven runs on six hits.
Sam Clay led off with a triple over the head of right fielder Angel Rades.
Coltrane Rubner gave DU a 1-0 lead on a RBI single through the left side.
Michael Tchavdarov walked and Rubner went all the way to third on a wild pitch on ball four.
Justin Johnson gave DU a 3-0 lead with his first triple of the season to score Rubner and Tchavdarov.
Xander Reisbig had a sharp single off the glove of first baseman Dylan Sayles to score Johnson for a 4-0 lead. The bases were loaded later in the inning when
Logan Todd scored
Cody Hultink on a groundout for a 5-0 lead. Clay came up again in the inning and had his second hit, which was a two-run single to score
Chase Kemp and
Dylan Pawenski for the 7-0 lead.
Parkside began to slowly chip away as they scored single runs in the second, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings.
Brayden Flanders took over for Batka to start the seventh inning and gave up an RBI triple to Peter Fusek which made it 7-3. The first three batters reached base to start the eighth as pinch hitter John Wubben had a RBI single to make it 7-4.
Brandon Skorupski inherited runners on first and second with no outs, but got the next three hitters with two strikeouts and a lineout.
Davenport loaded the bases in the eighth inning as Pawenski walked with one out and advanced to third on a stolen base and throwing error by Andrew Mack. Kemp walked for the second time in the game and Austin Drayna entered the game on the mound. After a fielder's choice, Clay walked to load the bases. Drayna got a weak grounder back to him off the bat of Rubner to end the inning.
Skorupski finished off the game in the ninth and earned his second save of the season. He struck out Mack and allowed a single to Fusek. He then got a grounder to third and one back to him to end the game. Davenport pitching finished with 15 strikeouts and just three walks. Allen Leitner took the loss (3-3) and threw four scoreless innings after the first. He finished with five innings pitched and allowed eight hits and four earned runs with two walks and no strikeouts.
The two teams will continue their weekend series tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at 1:00 PM. Davenport is now 22-10 overall and 8-1 in the GLIAC.
