GOSHEN, Ind. — The Goshen College baseball team opened Crossroads League play this past Friday and Saturday with a lone win in a three-game home series versus the Cougars of Spring Arbor University at the John Ingold Athletic Complex.

Game one began with the team’s right hander, Braedon Evans, a sophomore, on the mound. Evans cruised through the first four innings of play, allowing just one run. But in the top of the fifth, Spring Arbor (10-12, 3-1 CL) came alive to register five runs on five hits and two fielding errors by the Leafs. Goshen (9-12, 1-2 CL) would only be able to bring across one run in the fifth to answer, leaving the score 6-3 Cougars after five innings.

In the eighth inning, SAU would bring across one more run while Goshen added three to their total to make it a 7-6 ballgame. The ninth and final inning saw Goshen strand its tying run on base to drop the nailbiter 7-6.

The second game of the series came on Saturday afternoon and, much like the first game, the Leafs would jump out to an early 4-1 lead after three innings.

In the later innings of game two, Goshen and Spring Arbor remained locked in a tight battle. Goshen chalked up six more runs, three in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth, to go on and win game two by a score of 10-7 and tie up the series 1-1. Pitcher Travis Grimm, a senior, collected the win on the mound for the Leafs scattering six hits, two walks and four punchouts over five innings of work.

Colby Malson, a sophomore, twirled the final two innings to give the versatile infielder and closer his seventh career save. Malson’s career save total ties him for first all-time in the category.

Unlike the first two games of the series, the Cougars were the ones to strike first in game three and take an early 2-0 lead after two innings.

The Maple Leafs answered in the third inning, thanks to a two-run home run from Ben Longacre, a sophomore and Maple Leaf Athlete of the Week, to tie game at two runs a side. Much like the first game, Spring Arbor came alive in the fifth inning, scoring six runs by way of eight hits and no errors by the Maple Leafs and take a commanding 8-2 lead throughout the latter stages of the game.

The Maple Leafs were not able to find an answer to the six-run inning of the Cougars. The Cougars would go on to score a pair of runs in the sixth and seventh inning to end the game early due to the mercy rule 12-2 and take the series 2-1.

Goshen picked up another win on Sunday against Bluffton University in a doubleheader. The Leafs were scheduled to make the trek to Mount Vernon Nazarene University this past Tuesday but the trip has been postponed to Monday, April 2 due to freezing temperatures. Coach Alex Childers and his squad will be back in action for a twinbill on Friday and a single nine-inning affair on Saturday. All three games will be against the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The first pitch on Friday is slated for 2 p.m.