GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – If you like runs, we got a lot of them as Cornerstone scored a total of 25 in an 8-1 and 17-12 sweep of Cleary in the official home opener at De Witt Field. Cornerstone moves to 10-12 on the year and 3-1 in conference play with the victories as they will travel to Northwestern Ohio on the weekend for a four-game set in Lima, Ohio. Cornerstone hit five total home runs on the day with four in the first game. 

Game One – Cornerstone – 8 Cleary – 1

• Cornerstone got a spark early as Jake Collins in his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning picked up right where he left off in his last at bat yesterday with a home run to left center field for an early 1-0 lead. 
• Billy Flohr of Cleary responded with a home run of his own in the top of the second to the exact same spot as Collins, tying the game at one. 
• The starting pitchers of Caden Ritsema and Nate Raniszewski did not allow much else to happen through the first three innings as there was only one additional hit recorded on a Matthew Kindley two-out triple that would not score as the game stayed tied at one. 
• In the bottom of the fourth, George Cutler added to the solo home run parade with his seventh of the year hitting one over the left field fence to give Cornerstone the lead back, 2-1. Lucas Vega and Matthew Kindley added singles later in the inning but were unable to score as a strikeout ended the inning. 
• The solo bomb party continued with the wind blowing out in the fifth for Cornerstone, as Jordan Wenzel and Andrew Meny combined for back-to-back home runs to left field to increase the lead to 4-1. Meny's bomb was the first in his career. 
• Later in the inning Cornerstone found a different way to score, stringing some hits together, as Landon Poll and Matthew Kindley each recorded RBI singles to score Jake Collins and Jack Gagliardi increasing the lead to 6-1. 
• Cleary would go to the bullpen with two outs in the fifth as Trey Ridgway entered the game and would give up another RBI single to Grant Young. CU officially batted around as Jordan Wenzel hit an RBI double to continue to pour on the runs. 
• Cornerstone scored six total runs in the fifth to lead 8-1. 
• Caden Ritsema returned to the mound looking to close out the game in the seventh. He would give up a lead-off single but nothing else as Cornerstone went on to win game one 8-1.

 
Game Two – Cornerstone – 17 Cleary - 12

• Rafael Blom got the start in game two. An error and a single allowed two Cleary runners to get on but he was able to get out of it to keep the game scoreless through the first half inning. 
• In the bottom of the first inning, Cornerstone saw Andrew Meny lead-off with a single. After a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch advanced Meny to third he would score on a bloop double from Jake Collins. 
• Cornerstone broke the game open in the bottom of the second inning. Jordan Wenzel and Andrew Meny each recorded two RBI hits to make it 5-0 on starter Travis Klocek. 
• Cleary responded in the top of the third with three straight singles to load the bases. Rafael Blom struggled to find the zone with the bases loaded as a walk to Sam Browne allowed Ethan Hollister to score and make it 5-1. After the walk, Ryan McArthur would come in and pitch in relief for the Golden Eagles. 
• Ryan McArthur did not have better luck, walking in another run as Cleary continued to chip away, 5-2 in the third inning. An RBI single, another RBI walk, and an RBI fielder's choice would tie the game at five headed into the bottom of the third inning. 
• Landon Poll got Cornerstone right back on top with a triple that later scored on a Lucas Vega sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third. 
• The back-and-forth continued as Cleary was able to get a run back in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly to again tie the game at 6-6. 
• Cornerstone got some help from the wind in the bottom of the fourth to again take the lead. George Cutler recorded a two RBI bloop double that Cleary could not handle to score Jake Collins and JC Salinas and make it 8-6. 
• Cleary kept the seesaw going in the top of the fifth, scoring on a wild pitch to get one run back and make the CU lead one at 8-7. Ryan McArthur was able to get out of the inning with a strikeout to keep the lead. 
• Cornerstone got the run back in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Grant Young to go back on top by two. 
• Cleary made it eight consecutive half innings with at least one run being scored getting back within one run on a Billy Flohr sacrifice fly, 9-8. 
• The Golden Eagles had insurance runs for every attempted Cleary comeback. Landon Poll, Matthew Kindley, and Grant Young each recorded RBI doubles to highlight a four-run inning and bring the CU lead to five at 13-8. 
• In the top of the seventh, Ryan McArthur and Ben Cunningham combined to hold Cleary scoreless for the first time since the second inning. 
• The Cornerstone offense then continued to pour on runs as George Cutler highlighted a three-run bottom of the seventh with a home run off the Golden Eagle scoreboard. CU led 16-8 going into the eighth. 
• Sam Browne responded with a solo shot for Cleary in the top of the eighth as they continued to try to cut back into the Cornerstone lead. Cleary continued to get the better of Ben Cunningham in the eighth scoring a total of three runs before forcing his exit. Brody Nelson came in to pitch and allowed one more Cleary run to score as they cut the Cornerstone advantage to 16-12. 
• The Golden Eagles got a run in the bottom of the eighth on a Cougar error. CU scored in every inning in their turn at bat. 
• Brody Nelson came out for the top of the ninth and was able to secure the victory for Cornerstone, 17-12. 

 
By the Numbers:
7-8 – Matthew Kindley went 7-8 at the plate on the day recording a triple and two doubles. 
5/8 – Cornerstone hit five home runs with four solo shots in the first game. George Cutler hit two on the day to move back into the season lead with eight on the year. 
17 – Cornerstone scored a season high 17 runs in game two. 17 runs are the most since April 23 of last season vs. Rochester. 
 
What's Next? 
Cornerstone hits the road for the first time in WHAC play as they travel to Northwestern Ohio on Friday and Saturday for a four-game set. 
 
Baseball Contact: Jesse Campbell 
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