Junior Brian Lares belted two triples in his first two trips to the plate as part of a 5-for-5 performance Tuesday afternoon at Wabash Ballpark. The Little Giants cruised to a 15-7 win over Dominican University, pounding out 23 hits in the nine-inning contest.
View photos from the Little Giants' victory here.
Lares (left) tied the single-game record for triples with two, while the Wabash team finished with three 3-base hits overall. John Holm, who went 4-for-5 at the plate, added a third for the Little Giants.
Wabash hit for the cycle as a team in the first inning. Lares opened the bottom of the inning with his first triple, scoring on John Pennington's second home run of the season. Holm followed with a double ahead of a Montana Timmons walk and an RBI single by Chris Deig. The Little Giants took an early 3-0 lead, only to see the Stars (3-9) tie the contest with three runs of their own in the top of the second.
The Little Giants responded with four runs in the home half of the second. Joe Johnson started the inning with a single, scoring on the second Lares triple of the ball game. Pennington (below right) was hit by pitch to put runners on the corners before Holm cleared the bases with his triple, putting him a home run shy of the cycle for the contest. Another RBI single by Deig made it a 7-3 contest.
Pete Schmith started the game, working 4-1/3 innings with four hits, five runs, two walks, and a strikeout. Reliever Luke Holm evened his record at 1-1 with the win, pitching 1-2/3 innings while allowing two hits and one unearned run with two strikeouts. Eric Foust pitched the final three innings, giving up one unearned run on one hit, two walks, and two strikeouts.
Johnson and freshman Trey Funkhauser each added three hits out of the 23 total for Wabash. Deig and David Seibel added two hits a piece. Lares and Holm each finished with four RBI in the ball game.
Wabash (7-11) will travel to West Lafayette, Indiana on Wednesday afternoon for a single nine-inning contest against the Division I and Big Ten squad from Purdue University. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.