Lancers End Season On High Note
FORT WAYNE – Grace’s baseball team wrapped up its regular season on Tuesday, concluding the 2015 campaign with a 2-0 win over St. Francis.
The Lancers split the doubleheader and end their season with a record of 14-31 and 7-21 in the Crossroads League.
In the opening game, the Cougars (16-35, 10-18 CL) got the better of Grace in a 12-0 win. St. Francis pounded out 14 hits compared to six for Grace. The Cougars scored 10 of its 12 runs over the first three innings, and Grace never recovered.
CJ Swartz was Grace’s most effective pitcher, tossing 1.1 innings of scoreless relief. Logan Grigsby, Colton Ferrand and Jared Lemler each batted 1-for-2, and Paul Blankley, Brook Vosler and Quentin Herbster also had a hit.
The second game was a breakout performance from Joe Dougherty. The sophomore hurler tossed a complete-game shutout in the regular season finale. Dougherty handcuffed USF to just five hits in seven innings, walking two and striking out three.
Grace provided Dougherty the run support he needed in the fourth and fifth innings. Frank Rocchio led off the fourth inning with a single and moved to third base on two ground balls. Rocchio then scampered home on a passed ball for the game’s first run.
In the fifth inning, Logan Grigsby walked. He stretched to third base on Blankley’s single during the next at-bat. Vosler’s ground ball brought in Grigsby for the Lancers’ second run.
The Cougars’ best opportunity to score came during the sixth inning. USF had runners on first and second with one out, but Grace got the lead runner out at third on a force out, and Dougherty got the final batter to fly out and escape unscathed.
Blankley, Rocchio and Herbster each batted 2-for-3 in the win to lead Grace’s offense. Matt Morgart and Lemler were both 1-for-2.
The doubleheader concludes the careers of seniors Matt Morgart, Brook Vosler, Tim Weber and Cody Young. The foursome helped Grace to its first league tournament in recent memory during the 2014 season and just missed out on a repeat trip this year by one game in the league standings.