This past week was one of the biggest weeks of the season for the Pride.
They had eight conference games to play, four of them on the road.
Catcher Keenan Carter has been battling a thumb injury and could not play in any of those games. The bullpen may also have been stretched a bit thin.
And of course, finals week is coming up so they are studying just as hard as the rest of us.
Through all of that, they swept both four-game series between Owens and Lakeland, clinching a share of the OCCAC title.
The Pride traveled to Perrysburg to play Owens, a team that they had previously swept four games earlier in the year. Though the scores suggest that the Pride won fairly easily (8-3, 6-0, 11-1, 4-3), three of those four games were pretty close throughout most of the game.
In their 6-0 victory, the Pride had not scored until an RBI single from Jimmy White put them out in front. The same thing happened in the 8-3 victory as well; outfielder Tyler Cowles pushed across two runs on a double.
Jimmy White singled in the sixth inning, scoring two more runs in what would turn out to be a six-run inning for the Pride.
Pitcher Johnny Crawford pitched the final game of the series for the Pride, lasting four innings with five strikeouts, four hits, and one earned run.
Owens struck first in the second inning but the Pride scored four unanswered runs going into the seventh. Owens did make a slight comeback, but fell short, losing 4-3.
Crawford has been steadily improving as the season progresses. When he was at Bowling Green, he did not pitch a whole lot as a freshman and did not throw too much during the off season.
“It has been a process with him. We felt like even some of his starts he was not having a lot of success as far as numbers go, but he was on the verge of being good. He has good stuff. His strikeout numbers are good. He has swing and miss stuff,” said Coach Dintaman.
Crawford pitched four innings of scoreless baseball against Indiana Tech and only allowed one run against Owens. Some of his starts have been cut short because Dintaman did not want to wear him out and Ditaman wanted to at least have him somewhat fresh as these long games continue.
Lakeland suffered the same fate as Owens, as they got outscored 41-14 in their four-game series with the Pride.
Before the game, Dintaman explained that if they win five of their eight games with Lakeland then the conference is theirs. The Pride traveled up to Kirtland to finish out four games with them.
Going into these conference games, the Pride have not felt a lot of pressure. They have mostly dominated their games, though they have been down a few times. Coach Dintaman says the players should keep cool. “Every group is different. They have been down some games and they always respond. I don’t think this group has to worry about it. They are confident and talented,” said Dintaman.
The Pride set a school record last year with a 46-11 record and are currently sitting at 38-5 with 10 games remaining.
They have four games remaining with Lakeland, four more with Cuyahoga, who they beat three out of four times this year, and two games with Miami University-Hamilton.
Matt Summers
Sports Editor