FORT PIERCE, Fla. - The Hood College baseball team swept both ends of a doubleheader from Elizabethtown to open its spring trip to Florida.
Inside the Box Score
- Hood tripled a school-record five times in game one.
- Nathan Kessler became the first Blazer to triple twice in a game in the opener and followed with another triple in the nightcap.
- Trent Copenhaver went 3 for 4 in the two games with three walks and three RBIs.
- Daniel Shepherd stole three bases on the afternoon.
- Connor Henniges and Nate Luscombe each had wins on the mound, while Jake Howell recorded his second save of the year in game two.
Hood 12, Elizabethtown 8
- The Blazers scored eight times in the last three innings to break a 4-4 tie after four innings.
- Kessler tripled twice and Shepherd, Kroeger and Copenhaver also tripled in the contest.
- Hood stole seven bases in the contest, including two each by Shepherd and Kessler.
- Shepherd walked and Kessler was hit by a pitch to lead off the game and both later scored for a 2-0 lead.
- Hood scored on an error in the second and an RBI triple by Kessler in the fourth before the Blue Jays rallied. James Kantner had an RBI triple in the bottom of the inning and scored the tying run on a wild pitch later in the inning.
- In the fifth, Patterson and Brad Sawyer scored on a triple by Copenhaver and Shepherd followed with an RBI double for an 8-4 lead.
- Hood scored twice on an error in the sixth before Copenhaver and Shepherd drove in runs again in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
- Luscombe allowed four earned runs in five innings for the win. Howell pitched a scoreless seventh.
- Jared Witner took the loss, allowing five runs in four innings. Derek Manning had three hits.
Hood 6, Elizabethtown 4
- A three-run fifth inning gave Hood a come-from-behind victory and the sweep.
- Kroeger and Andrew Wenner had two hits apiece. Copenhaver singled and walked twice.
- The Blazers scored first on a two-out single by Kroeger in the first inning for a 1-0 lead.
- Mike Christy doubled and scored in the third to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead. The Blazers answered in the bottom of the inning with an RBI triple by Kessler and sacrifice fly from Alex Staton.
- Elizabethtown scored two more runs in the fourth for a 4-3 lead.
- Derek Wyld gave Hood the lead with a two-run, two-out double in the fifth to drive in Kroeger and Dylan Beck. Wyld scored an insurance run on a run-scoring double off the bat of Wenner.
- Howell closed out seventh for his second save. Henniges picked up the win with two innings of scoreless relief, striking out four.
- Manning turned in another three-hit effort for the Blue Jays.
Up Next
The Blazers, 4-0 on the season, take on Eastern Nazarene in Fort Pierce, Florida on March 5 in a doubleheader.