CALEDONIA, Mich. - The Davenport baseball team pulled into a first-place tie with Northwood on Saturday in a doubleheader sweep over Parkside. The regular season comes down to one final game on Sunday as DU needs a win over Parkside to secure at least a share of their first regular season championship. The Panthers can win the league outright if Wayne State can beat Northwood tomorrow.
On senior day, the Panthers flexed their muscle with a 16-2 win in game one and a 12-1 win in game two over the Rangers. Davenport set the tone early in game one with four runs in the bottom of the first.
Travis Harvey had a RBI single through the right side and
Carson Eby hit a three-run home run to left center.
Parkside scored a run in the top of the fourth as Austin Emanuel had a RBI double. The Rangers loaded the bases with two outs but
James Rogers got a huge strikeout of Reece Homan to keep a 4-1 lead.
The Panthers got the run back in the bottom of the fourth as
Christian Petre got in a run-down between first and second and avoided a tag long enough to allow
Gaetano Vallone to score from third. Davenport then erupted for 11 runs in the fifth inning and blasted three home runs.
Nolan Bryant hit a two-run jack off the scoreboard in right center. Vallone followed with a solo shot to right center and a 11-1 lead.
Kamrin Markwardt later hit a three-run shot to left center for a 16-1 lead.
Rogers allowed just four hits in six innings to get the win improving to 7-2. He allowed two runs with four walks and four strikeouts.
Spencer Vainavicz tossed a scoreless seventh inning and struck out two in relief. Markwardt tied a career-high with five RBI and went 2-for-3 with a walk. Eby drove in four runs and was a triple shy of the cycle.
The Panthers did not let up in game two with a 12-1 win and only allowed the run on a wild pitch in the fourth inning. DU scored four times in the second inning as
Nolan Anspaugh had a RBI double and Harvey delivered a two-run single through the right side.
After Parkside scored in the fourth, DU finished with the last eight runs. Harvey had a RBI triple in the fourth, Bryant had a RBI triple in the fifth, and
Ben Mets had a RBI triple in the sixth.
Noah Marcoux also hit a tape-measure home run to right center for his 12th bomb of the season in the seventh.
Evan Maize picked up his third win of the season going six innings and allowing three hits. Maize threw 82 pitches and walked two with four strikeouts. Vainavicz,
Isaac Van Dyke and
Joseph Drury all worked a scoreless inning in relief.Â
Harvey went 4-for-5 with a double and triple and drove in three runs. Anspaugh went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI. Mets went 3-for-5 with two runs scored. The two teams will conclude the regular season tomorrow at noon for a single nine-inning game.Â
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