Senior Cole Coughlin took the mound in game two of last night’s doubleheader to shut Cedar Springs down and led his team to a 15-1 mercy in five innings.

“Because we lost the first game, it was important that we came out and shut them down so we can get the two-game majority in order to take the series,” said Cole, who gave up just 1 run on 4 hits with a walk and 7 strikeouts in the big win.

The first game of the night was much different, as the teams remained knotted at 1 through the fourth inning. Senior Joe Sczcepanek drove in FHC’s only run in the first inning, and the Rangers would not be able to score the rest of the game.

Cedar Springs was able to outhit FHC 13-2, with the Rangers’ 2 hits coming from seniors Adam Tellier and Kyle Wojczynski. The Red Hawks were able to push 2 runs across in the fifth and 1 more in the sixth to seal the 4-1 victory late.

Adam took the mound for the majority of the game, allowing 13 hits with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. Sophomore Brady Price came in as relief late, and he pitched the team into 2 quick outs.  

“They took one from us the first game,” second-year head coach Todd Hartman said. “Our bats were a little bit dead, but we made some adjustments, had conversations, and were coachable, so obviously [the second game] was a big win for us.”

The second game was an offensive explosion from FHC, and it was started in the first inning again by an RBI single from Joe. The turning point was when the Rangers were able to put up 12 runs in the bottom of the third inning, effectively securing the win at that point. The 12-run third was led by Adam, Joe, senior Luke Herzog, senior Jacob Hornbeck, senior Ethan Vredenburg, and sophomore Joey Wise, as they all drove in runs.

The Rangers were able to outhit Cedar Springs 13-4, while the Red Hawks committed 8 errors to FHC’s 1. The hitting was led by Luke, Adam, Joe, Cole, and junior Matthew Henrikson, who all managed multiple hits. Luke led the team at the plate, going 3-4 with a double and a team-high 4 RBIs.

Behind Cole’s dominant pitching performance and a hot lineup, the Rangers were able to take game two 15-1 in a mercy after five innings.

“Baseball is all about runs, so if we can put up 15 and win 15-1, we can pretty much beat anyone,” said Ethan, who went 1-2 with 2 RBIs and a run scored in the second game.

FHC moves to 4-6 (4-2) on the year with the final game of the series coming up against Cedar Springs on the road on Wednesday.  If the Rangers can take the series against the Red Hawks, they should have a good chance at winning the conference.

“We have our pitchers ready to go; we plan on Joey and Brady, who are proven sophomores in our pitching rotation, pitching against those guys [on Wednesday],” Hartman said. “[It would be] huge for our goals to win the series, so we’ll try to take two out of three and take the series from them.”