JACKSONVILLE, Fl. – A three-run fifth-inning rally pulled Trinity Baptist College to within a run, and lightning shortened the game to six innings in the opener of three with USCAA Atlantis University. Atlantis added one in the sixth and won the opener 5-3.

GAME ONE

Trailing 4-0 as they came up in the bottom of the fifth, the Eagles loaded the bases with 1 out. Ryan Onkst started the rally with a base hit to right, and Logan McGann walked. A pitch then hit Gavin Williams to put an Eagle on every base.

Larson Lott chopped one over the pitcher’s head, and Onkst scored the first run of the inning. Seth Reeves followed with a clean single to center to drive in McGann. Williams had stopped at third before the throw from center went astray, and Williams raced home to make the score 4-3. Reliever Christian Olazabal entered and got the final out to end the rally.

Atlantis added an insurance run in the top of the sixth. Trinity got the tying runs on base in the bottom half, but Olazabal again ended the threat.

Umpires called the game after a third nearby lightning strike; the game was delayed twice previously for the same reason.

Onkst was 2 for 2 with 2 walks and a run scored while Williams and Reeves collected hits. Blake Bandy pitched 2 solid innings, allowing only an unearned run, and Braydin Bailey worked 2.2 innings of 1-run relief. Atlantis got solo home runs from Marco Medina, Ozzyel Gabarro, and Nathaniel Gomez.

GAME TWO

Graham Gorman raced home for the walk-off win in Game 1 of Saturday’s twin bill, and Gavin Williams drove in 4 runs to lead his team to the Game 2 win as TBC Eagles Baseball swept the Saturday double-header with Atlantis University.

Gorman doubled with 1 out and the bases empty in the bottom of the seventh to put the winning run on base. After Seth Reeves was hit, both base runners advanced on a line drive from Nate Nogueras that first baseman Marco Medino knocked down on the dive then regrouped to nip Nogueras at first. The first pitch to Dominic Gattinella ricocheted off the catcher’s mitt, allowing Gorman to race home with the game-winning run.

Gorman also scored in TBC’s big 5-run bottom of the first. Running for Onkst (leadoff walk), Gorman scored on Larson Lott’s two-run double to center that also drove in Gavin Williams (hit by pitch) from first. Later in the inning, Tyson LaChapelle lined a double down the left-field line that cleared the bases, driving in Jack Musgrave (running for Lott), Nogueras (walk), and Gattinella (walk). TBC led 5-1, and that was all the Eagles would get until the seventh.

Atlantis got a sacrifice fly in the first from Eduardo Perez and a pair of two-run doubles from Nathaniel Gomez in the second to make it 5-3 and Jonathan Mustelier to tie the score in the fifth.

Drew Billings then settled in to get a ground ball then a 3U-6 double play to end the inning. He then retired 6 of the 7 men he faced over the final two innings to keep the game tied, and the offense rewarded him with his third win in relief.

GAME THREE

Williams accounted for 6 of TBC’s 7 runs off his bat and got credit for 4 RBI. Williams laced a pair of two-run doubles in the first and fourth innings. In the first, after Ryan Onkst and Logan McGann singled to start the game, Williams doubled to left to drive in both men, and Trinity led 2-0. In the fourth, Onkst, McGann, and Williams repeated the rally when Williams took one off the center field wall for his second two-run double of the game.

In between, Williams completed a three-run rally in the bottom of the third with a two-out fly ball to right that dropped out of the glove and safely onto the ground. Tyson LaChapelle and McGann both scored on the error, and TBC led 5-2. Just before, McGann beat out the relay throw to first in attempt to end the inning on a 6-4-3 double play. Dominic Gattinella (leadoff single) scored the run that put Trinity Baptist ahead for good.

Atlantis answered Williams’s first blow with a pair in the second to tie the score at 2-2 via a sacrifice fly and run-scoring single. AU then got single runs in the fourth and fifth innings on a sacrifice fly and bases-loaded hit batsman.

Starter Darren Goeke, Jr. won it with a line of 4 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, and 1 K. Trey Rosado and Drew Billings combined for the fifth inning, and Nate Nogueras closed it out for his first save with 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 HP, and 2 BB. With Atlantis threatening and the bases loaded with 1 out, he got a strikeout and a fly ball to Williams to end the game.

Ryan Onkst was on base 10 (officially 9) of his 12 times up in the series. Gatinella was 2 for 5 with a 2B, 3 BB, and 2 R. Eight of TBC’s 20 hits in the series were doubles.

Story and image courtesy Trinity Baptist Athletics