Written by Erin Hughes

The Alexandria Aces grabbed a 6-1 victory over the division rival Metro South County Braves on Friday night in Alexandria.

Braves pitcher Zach Kirkpatrick (McLennan CC) recorded the first two outs on two pitches, but Gavin Degnan (Penn) launched a full-count home run to left field to get the Aces on the board first. Ernie Echevarria (Penn) made it to second on an error before DJ Scheumann (Ball State) singled to put him on third. Some heads up baserunning from both players allowed Scheumann to move to second and Echevarria to score the Aces’ second run. A flyout ended the first inning as the Aces moved to the second with a 2-0 lead.

Connor Doherty (Delaware) led off the third with his own home run to left field to put the Braves on the board 1-0, before Connor Hutchinson (Ball State) sat down the next three batters in order.

After an early foul out, Adham Sahebzadeh singled through the right side in the bottom of the fifth for the first Aces baserunner since the first. Sahebzadeh swiped second before John Colligan (Ball State) singled through the left side to score him and put the Aces ahead 3-1.

Pitching dominated the remainder of the game as neither team had more than two baserunners throughout the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. Aces arms Hutchinson and Adam Lehmann (Western Michigan) combined for nine strikeouts and just five hits allowed. 

Colligan dropped a leadoff double to start the bottom of the eighth and moved to third on a passed ball. After a groundout, Echevarria took a full count walk and then stole second. Scheumann drew the second straight walk and Colligan scored on a wild pitch as Echevarria advanced to third. Echevarria was tagged out at home on a fielder’s choice that put Diego Pena (Western Michigan) on first and Scheumann on third. Three straight singles from Will Twomey (Michigan), Brayden Huebner (Ball State), and Sahebzadeh scored Scheumann and Pena and gave the Aces a 6-1 lead.

The Braves had runners on the corners with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Lehmann fanned the last batter to seal the victory.