Grace Christian opened the baseball season with a 15-4 victory over Hebron Christian in a six-inning game.
“We got off to a slow start with the bats," said coach Ralph Goss. "That was expected for the first game. We cranked it up in the fourth. Our pitching was good.”
The Eagles broke the game open with seven runs in the top of the sixth for a 15-2 lead. Grace Christian had 10 hits and received six walks.
Justin Mast had a single and double, drove in three runs and scored two, Hunter Smith a single and double with two RBIs and two runs scored and Grant Bontrager a single, double and one run scored.
Alex Taylor and Bontrager combined for 16 strikeouts. Taylor was the winning pitcher, allowing two earned runs and three hits in four and a third innings, with 11 strikeouts and three walks. Bontrager finished up, allowing two hits and one earned run, with five strikeouts and one walk in one and two-third innings.
The next game will be March 19 with Calhoun Academy.
The Eagles had games rained out with Jackson teams New Summit and Discovery. New Summit will be made up as part of a doubleheader March 26. Goss said an attempt will be made to reschedule the Discovery game.
Goss sad all the rain has hurt his team's development. ”You have to play every day or every other day to get better. It's not like football that you play once a week. Not playing those first two games set us back. But I feel the more we play, we'll get better each game, or at least I hope we will.”
