March 25, 2006

Box Score

CLEVELAND - Swirling snow and frigid temperatures made a less-than-ideal setting for Cleveland State's home opener on Saturday (March 25), but the Vikings made sure that the fans in attendance did not have to stay in the cold for long, claiming a 9-1, five-inning mercy rule win over IPFW at Viking Field. The second game of the scheduled doubleheader was cancelled due to the poor weather conditions.

The cold temperatures and inclement weather made for a sketchy game in the field, with both teams committing a total of nine errors. CSU (12-3) was able to take advantage of the Mastodon's miscues, however, plating seven runs, including three unearned, in the final two innings to help secure the victory.

Meanwhile, senior pitcher Grace Luginbuhl danced around some early-game wildness to hold IPFW (2-16) to a single unearned run in five frames.

"It would have been nice to hit some more and not have as many errors, but we focused pretty well for the kind of weather we were playing in," head coach Julie Jones said. "It's good to get a win like this though. We are doing what it takes to come out on top.

"Grace did a great job of pitching despite not being as sharp as she has been in her past games. She didn't throw any wild pitches, which was excellent considering the conditions."

In a bit of a statistical oddity, the Vikings put together their biggest inning - a four-run fourth inning - despite not collecting a hit. CSU used a hit batter, two wild pitches, an error and some clever base-running to stake themselves to a 6-1 lead.

Luginbuhl reached to lead off the fourth after being hit by a pitch. She then stole second, advanced to third on strikeout and came home when senior Kortney Spidell reached on a fielding error at first. After Spidell took second and third on back-to-back wild pitches, sophomore Amber Lowe drew a one-out walk to put runners on first and third.

Sophomore Whitney Willard followed with a fielder's choice back to the pitcher, but ended up on third thanks to some heads-up base-running that forced unsuccessful throws by the IPFW defense and plated two more runs. Willard would then tally the fourth run on a sacrifice bunt by senior Shannon Graves.

The fifth inning followed a much more standard play-by-play, as CSU rapped out four hits, including an RBI triple by senior Kaitlin Guyette, that scored three runs and put the game away.

Luginbuhl moves to 7-2 on the year with the win, striking out four and yielding only three hits in 5.0 innings. Graves and junior Michele Penney both went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored on the day.

CSU returns to Viking field on Sunday (March 26) for a doubleheader against Oakland beginning at 1:00 p.m.