IU Southeast completes series sweep of RedStorm

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - In both of Saturday's losses to Indiana University Southeast, the University of Rio Grande at least had the opportunity to rescue victory from the jaws of defeat.
     In Sunday afternoon's series wrapup against the Grenadiers, there was no such chance to be had.
     IU Southeast scored in six of its seven at bats, including three times in each of the first two innings, and cruised to a 17-0 mercy rule-shortened shellacking of the RedStorm in River States Conference baseball action at Bob Evans Field.
     The Grenadiers headed back to the Hoosier state with an overall record of 14-12 and a 7-2 mark in the RSC.
     Rio Grande fell to 9-19 overall and 3-6 in league play.
     The 17-run shutout loss was the largest in program history - at least in the last 16 seasons - surpassing 15-0 setbacks at Lee (Tenn.) University on Feb. 16, 2009 and at the University of Northwestern Ohio on April 6, 2021.
     The 17-run loss also equaled the largest margin of defeat for a Rio team during head coach Brad Warnimont's tenure, matching a 20-3 loss at Embry-Riddle (Fla.) on March 16, 2007.
     The RedStorm, who have now dropped four straight outings and six of their last seven games, managed just two hits in the contest - both singles by senior Luke Lindamood (Minford, OH) - and committed six errors which led to seven of 17 IUS runs being unearned.
     In addition to being the beneficiary of the six Rio errors, the Grenadiers also banged out 16 hits, drew four walks and had a pair of batters hit by a pitch.
     Mason White led the onslaught, going 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and four RBI, while Max Flock was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored and Colin Long finished 2-for-4 with a double and four RBI.
     Luke Powell had two hits, including a double, and three RBI in the winning effort, while Alex Yurt was 2-for-5 with two RBI and Logan Murphy had two hits of his own.
     Kody Putnam also hit a solo home run for the Grenadiers who, in addition to their consecutive three-run frames to begin the game, scored five times in the fifth, twice in the sixth and three times in the seventh to invoke the 10-run mercy rule.
     Tyler Yotkewich went the distance on the mound for IUS, allowing just the two Lindamood singles and striking out four, for his third win in seven decisions.
     Junior Justin Anaya (Brownsville, TX) started and suffered his fourth loss in five decisions for the RedStorm, allowing seven hits and as many runs over three innings.
     Rio Grande's scheduled game against Wilberforce University on Monday at the Athletes in Action Complex in Xenia, Ohio has been moved back one week to March 25 at 2 p.m.
     The RedStorm now return to action on Tuesday when they entertain Bluefield (Va.) University in a single nine-inning, non-conference game.
     First pitch is set for 3 p.m.