Snapping Turtles Win Second Straight Game, Beat Tropics 13-6

vWESTFIELD, Ind. – The Lids Snapping Turtles dominated Tuesday night’s matchup with the Trifectom Tropics to win their second straight game and improve to .500 on the young season. After losing a pitcher’s duel Sunday evening to the Turf Monsters, the Snapping Turtles have bounced back and won their Monday and Tuesday’s games to improve to 3-3.

Snapping Turtles starting pitcher Elliott Rossell (Wabash Valley) walked two and hit one in the bottom of the first to load the bases but struck out three to pitch out of the jam. With the momentum in the Turtle dugout, the Snapping Turtles took advantage. Ethan Imel (Central Missouri) singled to lead off the second and Garrett Rusch (Allen County CC) followed reaching on error by the second baseman. Matt Hmielewski (Briar Cliff) walked to load the bases with one-out. Noah Wolf (Lincoln Trail) did his job with a ground ball to the right side to score Imel and give the Turts a 1-0 lead. Garrett DeHart (Franklin College) came up clutch with a two-out two-RBI single to extend the Snapping Turtle lead to 3-0.

The Turtles applied more pressure in the top of the third as Tarron Lawson (Eastern Illinois) walked and Malik Peters (Northern Illinois) tripled to left-center to score Lawson. Rusch came through with an RBI-single to score Peters before the Snapping Turtles scored three more on bases-loaded walks in the inning to take a commanding 8-0 lead into the bottom of the third.

The Tropics pushed their first run across in the bottom of the fourth on a Kenneth Sugi (Kaskaskia CC) two-out single to cut the Turtle lead to 8-1 for the time-being. The Snapping Turtles immediately responded with a run in the top of the fifth as Noah Wolf walked, advanced to third on a Corbin Malott (Purdue) double, and scored on an error to re-establish the Turtles’ eight-run lead.

The Tropics scored a run in both the fifth and sixth innings to trail 9-3 heading into the seventh. The Snapping Turtles manufactured four insurance runs in the top of the seventh however on a Garret Gray (Butler) two-RBI single and a two-RBI single from Peters. The Tropics scored three in the bottom of the seventh including two on a Peyton Back (Bellarmine) bomb, but the damage had already been done and the Snapping Turtles won 13-6.

Elliott Rossell earned the win throwing four innings while allowing just one hit and striking out six. Nolen Kincade (Butler), Spencer Lanman (Lemoyne-Owen), and Josh Judge each threw an inning of relief to close out the Snapping Turtle victory.

Up Next: Both teams will be in action Thursday evening for the second edition of Grand Park After Dark. The Snapping Turtles will take on the Bomb Squad looking to end their four-game win streak at 9:30 PM on GP-D3. The Tropics are set to take on the Bag Bandits at 9:30 PM on GP-D5.

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