April 18, 2010
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
GREEN BAY, Wis. - Amanda Macenko became just the ninth player in Division I history to record 25 wins in four separate seasons and Cleveland State completed a three-game sweep of Green Bay with a 3-1 victory in the series finale on Sunday afternoon.
The win improves the Vikings to 31-10 overall and maintains CSU's hold of first place in the Horizon League at 11-1. Green Bay falls to 19-12 overall and 5-6 in league play.
"We were not as sharp at the plate as we were yesterday, but we moved runners around and got key hits when we needed to," head coach Angie Nicholson said. "Overall, it wasn't the best day for us, but we did what we had to do to score enough runs and get the win.
"Amanda was good again on the mound and we came up with some nice defensive plays behind her to help her out."
Macenko, who is now 25-10 with a 2.45 ERA and 240 strikeouts this season, is just four wins shy of breaking her own school record for wins in a season.
The Vikings wasted little time in jumping on the Phoenix today as Tess Sito hit a solo homer to centerfield in the first inning to give CSU a 1-0 lead. It was Sito's league-leading 14th home run, extending her single season school record.
It stayed that way until the fifth inning when Mimi Mahon delivered a two-out, RBI double that scored Alicia Nichols with the second run of the game. Nichols was pinch running for Amy Powell who led off the inning with a single.
CSU added another insurance run in the seventh as Lia Gordon started the inning with her team-leading 12th double of the year. Megan Bashak came on to pinch run for Gordon and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Amy Powell and would come around to score on Gabby Gillilan's single.
That was more than enough run support for Macenko, who gave up a run in the seventh to spoil what would have been her eighth shutout of the season.
She settled for her 25th complete game, striking out six and scattering eight hits.
The Vikings, who combined to pound out 24 hits in Saturday's doubleheader, were held to five hits today.
CSU will be back in action on Tuesday (April 20) when the Vikings open a three-game series at Youngstown State with a doubleheader at 4:00 p.m. The series finale will be on Wednesday (April 21) at 6:00 p.m.
