April 23, 2008

Final Stats

Contact: Greg Murphy

LORAIN, Ohio - Mount Vernon Nazarene's Josh Mann limited Cleveland State to just three hits and stuck out seven in a complete game effort to lead the Cougars to an 8-2 victory over the Vikings on Wednesday night at The Pipe Yard.

The Vikings, who had won four straight, fell to 17-19 in their attempt to get back to .500. MVNU improved to 24-15.

"We didn't come to play today and displayed zero mental toughness tonight," head coach Kevin Kocks said.

The Cougars jumped on CSU starter Dylan Henry early, scoring three runs in the first inning on two hits, two walks and a Viking error.

MVNU added another run in the third as Rickey Burgos led off with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Marc Hadley to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead.

Burgos added a two-run single in the fourth to extend the Cougar lead to 6-0.

The Vikings came back with single tallies in the fifth and sixth innings, but could muster little more against Mann.

John Brown reached on an error to start the fifth and moved to second on a John Foco groundout. After stealing third, Brown came around to score on Tom Carter's single up the middle, CSU's first hit of the game.

In the sixth, Alex Kerins hit a one-out double and scored on an Adam Heideman single.

But the night belonged to Mann who gave up just one earned run, walked three and retired the Vikings in order in five of the nine innings.

The Cougars put the game away in the eighth when Steve Williams laid down a squeeze bunt with the bases loaded that scored two runs, including Matt Parks from second base.

Henry (0-2) took the loss, going 3.2 innings and giving up six runs (two earned) on six hits. Chris Bauman worked 3.2 innings, surrendering two runs on two hits with five strikeouts, while Jonathan Sprowls worked the final 1.2 innings. He gave up two hits.

Williams, Burgos and Marc Hadley had two RBI each for the Cougars.

CSU will return to action on Friday evening when the Vikings begin a three-game series with Youngstown State at The Pipe Yard. First pitch is slated for 6:00 p.m. The two teams will also play a doubleheader beginning at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.