Baseball Wraps Spring Trip with Win Over Concordia

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Mitchell College baseball team wrapped up its spring trip with a 9-5 victory over Concordia University Chicago on Friday afternoon at the RussMatt Invitational.

The Mariners (6-4 overall) built a 2-0 lead early and exploded for five runs in the sixth inning to break the game open. Left-hander Bryton Ferris picked up his second win of the spring by allowing three runs on six hits over 6.0 innings. Tyler Pina drove in three runs to lead the offense while Kyle Hartenstein and Garet Griffin each finished with a pair of hits.

Mitchell got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning on a ground ball by Pina that plated Hartenstein. Griffin added a sacrifice fly in the third to bump the lead to 2-0.

The Cougars responded with a single run in the fourth. Concordia had the tying run at second with only one out, but Ferris got the next two batters to foul and fly out to keep the Mariners in front.

Mitchell sent 10 batters to the plate in the sixth. The Mariners loaded the bases with no outs before Rolando Marcano delivered a single to score the first run of the rally. After a double play brought home another run, an RBI single by Hartenstein and a two-run double by Pina expanded the margin to 7-1.

Marcano added a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Jack Finnegan tacked on an RBI single in the eighth as Mitchell continued to swing the bats. Reliever Marcus Guadarrama pitched from the seventh inning into the ninth before Eddie Santiago came into the game to record the final two outs. The save was his first of the season.

Mitchell will next play at Newbury College on Saturday, March 18 at noon.