The Hiram College baseball team dropped a pair of games against Monmouth (Ill.) and North Park (Ill.) on Thursday afternoon at the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Florida.
In the first game against Monmouth (2-5), Hiram (2-5) was limited to five hits.
The Fighting Scots scored a run in the second, scored two runs in the fourth and the fifth and added a single run in the eight to open up a 6-0 lead.
Hiram got on the board in the eighth when senior Jeff Segal (West Bloomfield, Mich./North Farmington) singled to score senior Jaren Bell (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton). Both Bell and Segal collected two hits in the game.
In his first career start, freshman Kyle Watson (Warren/Howland) went 5.0 innings, giving up five runs and striking out three batters.
Against North Park (2-5), Hiram jumped on the board first in a RBI fielder’s choice by senior Ron DeAmicis (Austintown/Fitch).
The Vikings would then reel off 10 consecutive runs to build a 10-1 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth.
But the Terriers would not go down without a fight.
In the eighth, the Terriers got a RBI single from senior Jim Jaksa (Chesterland/West Geauga), a 2-RBI single from from junior Trevor Foster (Warren/Champion) and a RBI groundout from sophomore Eric Martin (Brookfield), cutting North Park’s lead to 10-5.
Hiram put together another rally in the ninth.
DeAmicis led off the inning with a single and freshman Brandon Kish (Poland/Struthers) laced a double to move DeAmicis to third.
After Bell was hit by a pitch, Segal reached on an error, scoring DeAmicis and cutting the deficit to 10-6.
Jaksa came up and singled to score two more runs and make the score 10-8.
After a single by Foster, senior Mark Leone (Boardman) hit into a RBI groundout, to pull Hiram within 10-9.
But the Vikings’ Jason Meger would get the next two batters out, allowing North Park to hold on for the 10-9 victory.
Sophomore Clayton Torok (Kirtland) struck out a batter in six innings of work.
Hiram will continue play at the Gene Cusic Classic with a double header against Millikin (Ill.). Game 1 is set for 9 a.m.
