MISHAWAKA, Ind. --- On a sunny Tuesday afternoon at Gardner Field, the Bethel Pilots (8-33, 4-24) battled the #7 Marian Knights with a near comeback in the second game 10-7 but game one got away 13-3.
GAME 1
The Knights ran like clockwork after the leadoff walk with a stolen base to take second then a sacrifice fly to right field to advance the runner then score on an RBI single to score the first run of the game. The second inning began the same way after another leadoff walk for the second run, but the Knights roped in two more runs with a two-RBI double, then an RBI double later in the inning to grow their lead to 5-0.
The Knights plated another run in the third with an RBI single to left-center, then a solo home run in the fourth brought Marian to a 7-0 lead. Bethel answered in the bottom of the sixth with Shelby White's RBI single to shallow center and Madison Shaw's sacrifice fly to center to score Alyssa Forys to chip away 7-2.
In the seventh, the Knights put up a crooked number with seeing-eye singles, scoring six runs to seal the game-one victory 13-3.
GAME 2
Marian struck first again in the nightcap with an RBI single in the top of the second, and a big five-run inning in the top of the fourth downed the Pilots 6-0. The Knights kept putting the pressure on in the top of the fifth with four more runs, but the Pilots' bats began to come alive in the bottom of the frame.
Maggie Robbins started the inning with a two-RBI double to right field, with Shaw following with a sacrifice fly to center to cut the deficit to 10-3. Kate Cooper looped an RBI single to left to plate Robbins; then Morgan Blubaum drew a bases-loaded bases-loaded walk to cut the Knights' lead in half to 10-5.
The Pilots kept the rally going at the bottom of the sixth with rain looming, with Cooper's RBI double to left field and Hannah Goldsborough's RBI single to right center before the Knights closed the door 10-7.
NEXT TIME OUT
The Pilots will travel to Marion, Ind., on Friday, April 19, at 3 p.m., for a doubleheader with the NAIA 16th-ranked Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats.
For the latest information on each of Bethel University's 31 intercollegiate athletic teams, visit BUPilots.com or follow the Pilots on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @BUPilots or YouTube at /BethelSportsNetwork.
