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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Cyrus
Carmen Ferrante
3
Muskingum MUSK 7-17-1
8
Winner John Carroll JCUBB21 14-17-1
Muskingum MUSK
7-17-1
3
Final
8
John Carroll JCUBB21
14-17-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Muskingum MUSK 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 3 5 3
John Carroll JCUBB21 0 4 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 8 9 4

W: Midea, Mitchell (4-3) L: Jake Norris (3-5)

Game Recap: Baseball | | By: Kyle Kelly, Senior Staff Writer

Four-Run 2nd Frame Steers the Baseball Down Road of Success against Muskingum

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A combination of strategic hitting and elite pitching fueled the Blue Streaks to one of their most important victories of the season. 

In a key game for the Ohio Athletic Conference standings, the John Carroll University Baseball team took down Muskingum University, 8-3, at Schweickert Field on May 7. John Carroll's ace Mitchell Midea was lights out with an eight-inning outing by fanning 11 batters and giving up only two earned runs.

"Our approach is to attack early and attack often," Midea said with a large ice bag supporting his right arm. "That was the mindset going into the game. To get strikes early and get ahead of the count, so that way I could go deeper into the game. I wanted to make sure we didn't spend our pitching today, so we have it later in the series."

In today's game, Tyler Cyrus (2-4) was the motor of the JCU high-octane offense. Cyrus had a big day at the plate with crucial RBI base hits in the second and fifth innings that kept JCU in the lead. Justin Hanley kept the wheels spinning with two doubles, including an RBI base knock in fifth.

"Mitch was pitching his tail off the entire game and the defense was playing great," Cyrus, the designated hitter, said. "It felt great to come through for the guys."

The Blue Streaks improved to 14-17-1 (11-16-1 OAC) on the season and increased their lead to four games for the sixth spot in the OAC standings. JCU is now four games back of Heidelberg (18-12-1, 15-11-1 OAC) for fifth place. The Student Princes have a four-game series upcoming with first-place Marietta. The Pioneers were ranked No. 6 in the latest d3baseball.com poll. 

"It was very important to get this win," Midea said. "We didn't think we were playing our best baseball up until now but with this game today, we are hoping we changed that to keep this momentum going with the tournament approaching."
 
A four-run second inning quickly put JCU's two-game losing streak in the rearview mirror and navigated the Blue Streaks closer to the win. The Blue and Gold were even a little creative with the route they took to score the four runs. The Fighting Muskies gave JCU a map.

To start the inning, Joseph Olsavsky reached on an error and a few pitches later, Olsavsky put himself in scoring position following a passed ball. A sacrifice fly by Cyrus advanced Olsavsky to third. 

On the next at-bat, Victor Glaser knocked in Olsavsky in an RBI double that gave JCU the first run of the game (1-0). Two batters later, Bennett Cavaretta singled down the right field line and scored Glaser to give the Blue Streaks a 2-0 advantage.

It turned out the right field line was the sweet spot, as Sam Heaton had a 2 RBI single that finalized the scoring in the second stanza.

In the third inning, Cyrus put his power on full display with a shot to right-center field that registered as an RBI double. That gave the Blue and Gold a 5-0 lead put there was still plenty of baseball to be played.

The Fighting Muskies ruined Midea's chance at a scoreless outing by tacking on a two-out run in the top of the fourth. The JCU offense made sure that run did not go unanswered.

Once again, this time in the bottom of the fifth, a pair of Muskingum mistakes put JCU in perfect position to score. The leadoff hitter, Erik Daugenti, reached base due to an error. Not too long thereafter, Daugenti found second on a wild pitch. Then, two batters later, Justin Hanley found the gap in right-center field for an RBI double that scored Daugenti. Cyrus capped off the inning with an RBI single down the same right field line that gave JCU a 7-1 lead.

Midea faced some trouble down the stretch by surrendering runs in the sixth and seventh but Bobby Bell kept faith in his ace to go the distance. Specifically in the seventh, as the Fighting Muskies rallied to load the bases with two outs. However, Midea never wavered and struck out Devin Ryan to end the inning.

Even with 110 pitches on the day, Bell confidently sent Midea back out for the eighth inning. Midea stayed sharp with two strikeouts, a fly out and only allowing one hit to protect the four-run lead. 

The Blue Streaks gave their starting pitcher some run support in the eighth inning. Daugenti had an RBI sac fly that finalized the Blue and Gold lead to 8-3. 

Jack Bennett closed out the ninth inning and protected the score. Midea earned his fourth win of the season to better his record to 4-3 on the year.

In addition to Cyrus and Hanley's 2-for-4 days at the dish, Matthew Thiel also went 2-for-4. Heaton kept a strong eye by drawing two walks.

The Blue Streaks and Fighting Muskies will go two more rounds tomorrow for a doubleheader at Mose Morehead Field. Game one is slated for 1 p.m. With the win today, John Carroll increased its win streak against Muskingum to eight games.
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