Despite out hitting North Alabama and leaving five more runners on base (9-4) than the Lions the Griffon baseball team fell 5-3 in the series finale. Nik Jurado had a solid outing for the Griffons going 7.1 innings givng up five hits and striking out nine as the Griffons fall to 1-2 on the season.

Things looked good for the Griffons early on opening up the game scoring two runs on two hits in the top of the first. David Chew doubled in Michael Schulze while Chew scored on a single by Grant Fink.

Jurado kept the Lions off the scoreboard until the fourth when he gave up one run on a sacrafice fly. The Griffons went up 3-1 in the seventh after Tony Loeffler scored on a Jake Graham double.

Things when downhill in the bottom of the eighth as the Lions scored four runs on three hits, capitalizing on one Griffon error. The Lions Daniel Korpi singled leading off the inning and later scored on a Darrmal Moore single. The Lions tied the game on a sacrafice ground out by Josh Doyle. Three batters later Josh Cyr delivered the two run game winning single.

In the ninth the Griffons got two, two out singles by Schulze and Graham but it wasn’t enough as the Griffons fell for the second straight game.

Western had eight hits with Fink and Graham collecting two apiece. Ethan Ward picked up the loss in releif as he did not record an out giving up one hit and one earned run.

Michael Schmidt and Korpi both had two hits for the Lions. Chad Boughner went 6.1 innings giving up four hits and two earned runs while striking out nine. Jacob Westerhouse picked up the victory while Ben Seabrook picked up his second save of the season. The Lions improve to 8-2 with the victory.

Western will play their first home games of the season this coming weekend. They open up a four game series on Friday, February 24 with a nine inning game against the University of Nebraska-Kearney. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 pm on the Griffon Baseball Field at the Spring Sports Complex.

— MWSU Sports Information —