Jake Mau said it was a special feeling for him to be recognized with the other seniors on the Trinity Lutheran baseball team at Alf Snyder Field on Saturday afternoon.
Mau, Tyler Goecker, Jack Marksberry and Lawson Woods and their parents were introduced between games of the senior day doubleheader against Indianapolis Lutheran.
Trinity won the opener 4-1, while Indianapolis scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning to win the second game 9-7.
Each of the seniors received a framed jersey.
“For me, it definitely meant the world,” Mau said. “This is a great team. Our coaches are amazing, and they’re all very supportive with anything we do and they help us with our problems and fix them. We get better every day as a team. We couldn’t ask for anything better. It has been a blast.”
All four seniors have played high school together all four years, and Ben Kleber said he is proud to have coached the seniors.
“There’s not really anything I can say with words how much the four seniors and their families have meant to this program and mean to me as a coach. I couldn’t ask for four better guys and parents to go out with here their senior year,” Kleber said. “It has been an honor to coach them. They’re all competitors.”
Mau swung the hot bat for the Cougars with three hits, two RBI and a run in the first game and two hits and a walk in the second game.
“It was a nice day today,” Mau said. “It was real clear, not much was in the way of the ball. They had good pitchers. They hit the strike zone. They were throwing me a good mix of off-speed and fastballs.”
The Cougars began swinging hot bats in the bottom of the first inning in the opener. Nathan Voelker walked, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a single by Marksberry. Marksberry scored on a double by Mau, and he scored on an error for a 3-0 lead.
Peyton Pollert led off the second with a walk and scored on a hit by Mau for a 4-0 score.
Goecker was in control on the mound as he recorded two strikeouts in the first inning and retired the side in order in the second and third innings. The Saints used a hit, a passed ball and an infield out to score their run in the fourth.
Goecker walked one and didn’t allow any hits over the last three innings and finished with a 2-hitter with nine strikeouts and three walks.
Kleber said Goecker did his usual commendable job on the mound.
“Tyler always gives us a chance to win a ballgame, “Kleber said. “He comes out and throws a lot of strikes. Coming into this game, he was 30 strikeouts and three walks, so he fills it up. He doesn’t walk guys. He keeps your defense on their toes.
“Mau had a big hit for us. That was good. That first game is the most complete game we’ve played all year. We did a really good job defensively. We did everything right in that game.”
Freshman Kowan Gross started on the mound for the Cougars in the second game, and he walked three in the first inning and allowed a hit, plus Trinity committed an error and the visitors took a 4-0 lead.
Indianapolis had a hit batsman, a single, a walk, two wild pitches and a stolen base to score two more runs in the top of the second.
With two out and nobody on base in the fourth, Evan Hunt was hit by a pitch, Gross singled and Pollert walked to load the bases. Goecker lined a double into left-center that cleared the bases and set the score at 6-3.
Pinch-hitter Chase Bode hit into a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning and went to second on a wild pitch. He was replaced by Sage Broughton, who scored on a passed ball.
Woods singled, and after Hunt was again hit by a pitch to load the bases, Gross singled to drive in Woods for a 6-5 game.
The Saints scored an unearned run in the top of the sixth. In the bottom of the seventh, Andrew Bell walked, and Woods hit a line drive to left field that was dropped for an error. After Hunt sacrificed the runners up a base, Marksberry pinch-hit and lined the ball to left-center that enabled both runners to score and tie the game.
Goecker had three hits and Mau and Gross each had two hits in the second game.
Pollert came in to pitch in the third inning and went eight innings with seven hits, three runs, four strikeouts and a walk.
“Against Charlestown, Kowan did a really good job of filling it up, throwing a lot of strikes, and today, he came in, he really wasn’t filling up the zone. He walked some guys, and those guys ended up scoring,” Kleber said.
“We misplayed a ball in left field that cost us three runs, and we missed a couple other balls. That very well could have been a win for us, but being down 6-0 and having the willpower to come back was big. Having a big double by Tyler to clear the bases, and Jack got hurt in Game 1 and pinch-hit in Game 2 and had a big knock to tie the game.
“I’m happy the way we battled back. We had better at-bats today. We’re getting there. We’re real timid on counts, and we’re swinging out of the zone. We need to stay in our zone and hit balls in our zone.”
Trinity (9-8) will play at Seymour at 5 p.m. today and will host Oldenburg Academy on Tuesday. Oldenburg is ranked No. 1 in the state in Class A.