Sandusky Sweep Marlette; Take Home Share of GTCE Title
By: Wm. Michael Dixon
Tribune Recorder Leader
The Sandusky Varsity Baseball team hosted the Marlette Red Raiders in Sandusky Monday night for Sandusky’s final GTC East matchup of the season. The Wolves needed to win both games to secure a share of the GTC East title with Ubly.
Both teams started off slow in the first game, with neither Marlette nor Sandusky putting up a run in the first two innings. Sandusky broke the ice in the bottom of the third when Barry Lester doubled to bring home Caleb Minard for the first score of the game. Danny Tovar singled to left field to bring home Lester and push the score to 2-0. The Red Raiders got runners on base in the top of the fourth but failed to bring any of them home. Sandusky ran up the score in the bottom of the fourth. A pair of wild throws brought in two base runners before a Barry Lester shot down the first base line brought in a third. Tyler Franzel stepped up to the plate and knocked one out of the park for two more runs. The Wolves racked up five runs in the inning. Marlette got on base a couple times but failed to get on the board by the sixth inning and succumbed to the 10-0 mercy from Sandusky.
Tyler Franzel took the mound for the Wolves, giving up two hits and no runs while striking out nine. Aaron Bower pitched five innings for the Red Raiders in game one, giving up seven hits, seven runs and striking out ten. Brandon Anderson pitched relief in the sixth inning, giving up two hits and three runs and striking out one.
Marlette played the role of the home team in game two. Sandusky got on the board first with three runs at the top of the ball game. Marlette answered with three runs of their own when Brandon Anderson brought in three runs on his way to second base. Sandusky responded with five runs in the second inning, and another five in the third, to take a 13-3 lead over the Raiders.
Marlette managed to bring home another run in the bottom of the third but Sandusky rallied for another six runs in fourth to take a 19-4 mercy victory over the Red Raiders.
John Minard toed the mound for the Wolves in game two, pitching four innings and giving up six hits and four runs while striking out six. Trey Lester and Connor Kelly split pitching duties for the Raiders. Lester gave up eight hits and eight runs while striking out two. Connor Kelly gave up nine hits and eleven runs while striking out one. Barry Lester, Tyler Franzel and Daniel Tovar each earned three hits in game two, Caleb Minard and Kory Lambson each had a pair of hits and Jackson Kartanys, Gabe Vanderlip, John Minard and Lukas Kursinsky each had a hit in the 19-4 win.
Sandusky secured their second consecutive GTC East title with the win over Marlette and have gone a combined 23-1 in the GTC East over the past two years.
