April 13, 2005
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
CLEVELAND - Cleveland State's pitchers combined to give up just five hits and three earned runs en route to sweeping a doubleheader from Ohio on Wednesday afternoon at Viking Field. With their 5-3 and 2-1 victories, the Vikings pushed their modest winning streak to three games while improving to 5-1 at home.
Grace Luginbuhl was solid in the opener, giving up just two hits while striking out nine to improve to 4-9. Her only hiccup came in the third inning, when she walked two and surrendered a two-out, three-run home run by Shannon Weidner that briefly put the Bobcats in the lead, 3-2.
Cleveland State responded by opening its half of the third with four straight hits and a walk to push a pair of runs across. The Vikings added an insurance run in the fifth when Kaitlin Guyette, who went 3-for-3 in the game, led off with a triple and scored on a single by J.J. Thornberry.
Zoe Heim (4-9) went the distance for Ohio, surrendering eight hits and three earned runs while fanning seven.
All the scoring in game two took place in the first inning. After the Bobcats pushed an unearned run across, CSU responded with two of its own.
Amber Lowe led off with a walk and Shannon Graves followed with an infield single. Both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch leading to a Luginbuhl sacrifice fly and a successful squeeze bunt by Michele Penney.
Thornberry (4-5) made the lead stand up, giving up just the one unearned run, three hits and walk while striking out seven. In her last two starts, she has surrendered just one earned run and eight hits in 14.0 innings of work while fanning 14.
Michelle Sauter gave up two runs on six hits while striking out four to fall to 4-8.
"We got great pitching today and executed very well in a couple of key situations at the plate," CSU head coach Julie Jones said. "I think our speed forced them into rushing a couple of plays and overall we did a better job of putting the ball into play."
Cleveland State hosts Wright State this weekend in a three-game Horizon League series at Viking Field. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday (April 16) at 1:00 p.m. followed by a single game on Sunday also at 1:00. Admission is free of charge.
