2/25/2017 6:18:01 AM
Friday consisted of some good baseball being played and featured three division one and one junior college game. The Chicago State Cougars and the IPFW Mastodons went back and forth in the late innings of their 3 pm battle, but the Cougars came out victorious with a three-run inning in the top of the ninth fueled by a Jacob Vanitvelt RBI double and Matt Paciello RBI single to center to cushion the lead.
The Ohio University Bobcats and SIU Edwardsville Cougars played a very close and tight game with the Cougars coming on top 2-1, thanks to the catcher, Brock Weimer, game winning RBI single to centerfield off of the Bobcats senior reliever Jake Rudnicki in the 8th. Mason McReaken received the save for the Cougars throwing with a three-quarter arm angle and good running fastball that ran from 87-89 mph.
The Georgia Highlands Mustangs defeated the Sinclair CC Tartans 6-3. Colby Taylor worked quickly and efficiently and continuously pounded the strike zone with a fastball that ran from 86-90 mph which he did a great job of running in on batters. Taylor also showed a changeup that flashed a lot of potential and showed a great fading action and generated plenty of swings and misses. He was able to replicate arm speed for each pitch thrown which left most of the Tartan hitters off balanced. A notable thrower for Sinclair today was freshman, Jack Goonan. He worked from the half and reaches his arm all the way back to throw a nice smooth fastball in the low-90s. Goonan also threw a pretty sharp and hard curve in the low 80s and mixed in his mid 80s change from time to time. Third baseman, Jonathan White barreled the baseball consistently, as he brought in the first run of the ball game for the Mustangs and showed off his range with a diving force out play in the middle inning of the game.
Today’s final game was between the Canisius Golden Griffins and IPFW Mastodons. After being defeated by Chicago State, IPFW started the game off rough conceding three runs in the first inning. They fought back and put up a run in the second inning and decreased the lead by one with the help of Robert Young III solo shot to left. Zachary Sloan started the game for the Golden Griffins and threw very well. Sloan has a medium frame and long lower half with a smooth and balanced delivery. He throws with an over the top arm angle, with a fastball that runs from 86-89 mph with life and a nice tight breaking slider that has the ability to break both planes. Canisius eventually pulled away and scored fiver runs in the eighth and won the game 8-4.