On Wednesday afternoon in Central Florida, the Alma College baseball team continued their spring trip two more games. Dodging rain showers but basking in warm weather, the Scots lost to Capital (OH) 11-10 and then defeated Grace University (NE) 8-3 (six innings) in the nightcap.

With the split, Alma is now 4-2 on the trip and will be off on Thursday before finishing the journey on Friday against Hanover (OH).

Game 1 (Capital)

In a back and forth contest that unfortunately ended on the "back" side, the Scots dropped a one-run affair against Capital. The Scots actually jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when they strung together three hits.

Jr. 1B Blake Leddy (Saginaw/Swan Valley) led off with a double and scored on a double by Jr. DH Mostafa Ghonim (East Elmhurst, NY/W.C. Bryant). So. CF David Carles (Staten Island, NY/Petrides) was hit by a pitch and both runners advanced a base on a passed ball. That was followed by a two-RBI single by Fr. SS Alex Peczynski (Farmington Hills/Detroit Catholic Central).

Capital responded with two runs in the top of the third before Alma answered with two more of their own for a 5-2 advantage. Jr. RF Yoan Delrosa (Bronx, NY/Morris) led off the Alma half of the third and was followed by a two-run homer by Ghonim, giving the Scots the lead again.

The Crusaders then gained a foothold on the game as they scored two runs in each of the fourth, fifth and seventh innings and added three tallies in the sixth for a 11-5 leading heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Scots had no quit however, as they responded with five more runs of their own to cut the deficit to one run, 11-10. The Scots loaded the bases to start the frame and then Fr. PH Jeremiah Johnson (Bloomingdale/Bloomingdale) walked to score a run. An RBI groundout by Carles scored another run and then hits by Peczynski and Jr. LF Alex Kravat (Auburn/Bay City Western) accounted for the Scots' final runs.

Neither team would score in the ninth inning and the Crusaders earned the hard-fought one-run victory.

Jr. P Eric Strickler (Lapeer/Lapeer East) took the loss for the Scots as he went 5.1 innings, allowing eight hits, nine runs (six earned) and had three walks and three strikeouts. So. P Blake Ordiway (Holly/Holly) pitched two innings and gave up two earned runs and four hits, while Sr. P Kevin Thompson (Petoskey/Petoskey) threw the final two frames. He gave up two hits, but no runs and had two strikeouts.

Game 2 (Grace)

The second game of the day proved to be a better result for the Scots. Alma broke a 1-1 tie with seven runs in the top of the sixth inning and won an 8-3 contest that was halted because of rain with one frame to go.

The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth inning when Alma got on the board and took a 1-0 lead. Carles doubled and scored when Jr. Juan Dominguez (New York, NY/Blue Ridge) hit a single. Grace would tie the contest at 1-1 with a single tally in the bottom of the fifth, setting up a wild finish to the game.

Alma scored seven runs in the top of the sixth inning and led 8-1 before the Royals responded with two of their own in the bottom of the frame, making it an 8-3 ballgame.

In the Scots' rally, Alma had four hits, with the big one being a grand slam homerun by So. C Doug Walters (Brighton/Brighton) that accounted for the final four runs of the frame. They were also aided by an error and two walks that led to runs.

Alma would then score two additional runs in the top of the seventh and led 10-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.

in the final stanza, Grace proceeded to score six runs with nobody out before the rain opened up on the field. After a delay, the game was called because of the conditions and the score went back to the sixth, giving Alma the 8-3 victory.