Century Mark: Maki Wins 100th as Baseball Sweeps Rochester Christian

(Howell, MI)-- History was made at Lake Trust Stadium Sunday afternoon, as Cleary head baseball coach Drew Maki won his 100th career game as part of a doubleheader sweep over the Rochester Christian Warriors.

In Game 1: Brice Wesley hit a one-out double, advanced to third, and scored on a balk, giving Cleary a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the first inning.  RCU would take the lead in the top of the third on a two-run triple, putting the Cougars in a 2-1 hole.  The Cougars did respond in the bottom half of the inning, when Brice Wesley and Landon Kempainen both reached after drawing two-out walks.  Brodie Mackay would hit a single to center field, scoring Wesley, and the next batter, Joey Parinello singled to right to score Kempainen, giving Cleary back a 3-2 advantage.  Cleary would score two more runs in the fourth inning, as Conner Boone touched home on a balk, scoring the first of the two runs.  After Brendan Seman was hit by a pitch (Austin Gates would pinch-run), Gates would advance into scoring position, and then scored on a Landon Kempainen double down the right field line to make it 6-2.  Kempainen would score the team's seventh run in the sixth inning, when he scored on a Joey Parinello double, making it 7-2.  That would be all pitcher Brendan Seman needed, as he went 1-2-3 in the seventh to earn a complete game victory.

Brendan Seman would allow 2 runs (0 earned) with 8 strikeouts on 4 hits in a complete game for his third victory of the season.  Landon Kempainen, Joey Parinello, Conner Boone, and Braylon Hughes each had 2 hits for the Cougars, while Brice Wesley scored 3 runs in the game.

The victory was Coach Drew Maki's 100th as the head coach.  He becomes the second coach in program history to eclipse the 100-win mark, joining his predecessor Karl Kling, who has 110 career wins.

In Game 2: Rochester Christian would open the game with a run in the top of the first, but the Cougars answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.  Brendan Seman led off the inning with a double, followed by a Brice Wesley walk to put a runner in scoring position.  Landon Kempainen would single through the left side of the infield to score Seman, and tied the game at 1-1.  The next batter, Brodie Mackay, grounded out, but it would be enough to score Kempainen, giving Cleary a 2-1 lead.  Two batters later, Jake VanderHaar doubled to left field, scoring Kempainen, and making the score 3-1.  After Landon Kempainen singled to lead off the third inning, he would advance to third, while Joey Parinello drew a walk to put runners on the corners.  Joey Parinello would get caught too far away from first base, but he stalled in the resulting rundown long enough for Landon Kempainen to score, giving Cleary a 4-1 lead.  In the fifth, Landon Kempainen drew a two-out walk, stole second, and came around to score on a Brodie Mackay RBI single, giving Cleary a 5-1 lead.  Rochester Christian would get one run back in the seventh, and another in the eighth, but Josh Lucier would get out of the ninth without allowing any runs to score, as Cleary held on to win by a 5-3 score.

Ryan Lieng would earn the victory, as he allowed 2 runs on 4 hits with 7 strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work.  Josh Lucier would pick up his second save of the season with a clean ninth inning.  Brendan Seman and Landon Kempainen had two hits for the Cougars, with Kempainen scoring 3 runs in the game.  Brodie Mackay would add 2 RBI.

Cleary improves to 13-9 overall, and are back to .500 in the WHAC with a 4-4 record.  The Cougars will be back at Lake Trust Stadium on Tuesday, March 24, with a non-conference doubleheader against the Red Storm of Rio Grande.  First pitch in game one is set for 1:00 PM.