Redshirt junior pitcher Kade Granier pitched for seven innings in the third game of the series against Houston Baptist University. Granier had nine strikeouts and kept the momentum on the Lions' side. Jonathan Rhodes/The Lion's Roar
The Lions baseball team defended their turf against Houston Baptist University by winning the first and last games of the series.
The Lions are now 18-9 overall and 7-2 in conference. Head Coach Matt Riser encouraged his team after the loss and told them how to approach the final game to clinch the series.
“Sunday is energy Sunday,” said Riser. “Every club gets Monday off per NCAA rules because every team has played games or practiced for six straight days. Sunday is all about energy. You just have to find more energy than the other club. It’s all a mentality thing on Sunday. Through the grind of the weekend, you have got to find a way to perform better than the club on the other side. You cannot give in to being tired. We talked about just continuing to grind on Friday and Saturday, and by Sunday, we will blow it wide open, and that is what happened.”
According to Riser, the performances of senior pitcher Josh Green in the first game and redshirt junior pitcher Kade Granier in the third game were key for the team’s victories.
Green struck out a career-high seven batters and had no walks in eight innings. Granier held the Huskies scoreless in seven innings and striked out nine batters.
Green feels the victories this weekend were needed confidence boosters after the back-to-back losses earlier last week.
“We lost some momentum in the last two games,” said Green. “It felt really good to get out here and get after somebody and get the ball rolling again.”
Riser was pleased with Granier’s performance and to have an experienced player that he can put on the mound.
“That is a veteran guy that we were having to trust and lean on to have a great outing,” said Riser. “We talked about it earlier that they were going to feel really good at bat, and he got really uncomfortable really soon, but he did a good job of settling in. I didn’t expect him to stay in that long, but just watching his eyes, he just kept looking stronger and stronger. Just really proud for what that young man brought to the table for us because that was a huge series for us.”
Granier received a chain necklace with a silver lion on it from his teammates signifying that he helped swing the momentum in the team’s favor.
“That’s ‘Big Mo,’” said Granier. “We have this team thing going around where if you get the momentum on your side, you get to wear the chain.”
Green also got to wear the chain after his performance in the Lions’ first win of the series.
“‘Big Mo’ is big momentum,” said Green. “Anytime we have a big play, we give it to the guy who got that momentum back on our side. There are little things in the game like Trosclair hits a pop up that gets the guy on second to third. It doesn’t look like much, but it is big momentum for us.”
In the first game, junior infielder Kyle Schimpf hit his third home run of the season. In the third game, Schimpf and redshirt senior Trenon Trosclair had two runs batted in.
“We just trust our plan, be on time with the fastball and not do too much,” said Trosclair.
Riser reflected on how the bullpen has played this season and what they still need to improve on.
“There is no particular closer,” said Riser. “We are pretty deep in the bullpen, and guys are starting to go deeper in the ball games, which is allowing us to go to certain matchups as oppose to telling someone, ‘Hey, you are going to be a ninth inning guy.’ The starting pitcher is helping the bullpen where we can match up a little bit better.”
The Lions’ next game will be against Tulane at Alumni Field tonight at 6 p.m. This game is Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night and also features Fireworks at the Pat.