Parkside baseball dropped games three and four on the road to a tough Ashland squad on Sunday, as the Eagles took the first game of the day 7-3 before winning 9-8 in 10 innings in the night cap. With the wins, Ashland won all four games of the series and improved to 18-3 overall. 
 
GAME 1: Ashland 7, Parkside 3
In the opener, the game was tied 3-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth, but the Eagles used a big four-run inning to jump out to the 7-3 lead they would hang on to.
 
How it Happened
The Rangers took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to a Nick Eisenmenger two-run single that scored Justin Bennett and Shawn Rigsby. Ashland came back to tie it up 2-2 in the third and took the lead in the fourth. Parkside answered with a run in the top of the fifth, this one coming off an RBI single by Casey Oliver, making it 3-3.
 
The Eagles used two hits and were helped by a Parkside error in the sixth inning.
 
GAME 2: Ashland 9, Parkside 8
Parkside used a two-run top of the ninth inning to force extra innings, but the Eagles were able to use a game-winning sacrifice fly after a leadoff single in the bottom of the 10^th.
 
What Happened
After three innings of play, the Rangers held a 5-2 lead after back-to-back two run innings in the second and third. In the first inning, Dominic Esposito hit an RBI single up the middle to get the Rangers on the board early. After Ashland answered in the bottom of the first, Parkside saw a Kurt Mlachnik sacrifice fly and a Rigsby RBI groundout to make it 3-1 Rangers.
 
Ashland scored one in the bottom of the second to make it 3-2, but Parkside made it a 5-2 ball game thanks to an Ashland error and a Niko Diaz RBI single in the top of the third. After Ashland took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the seventh, the Rangers tied it up in the top of the eighth where they were helped by another Ashland error. Ashland got a huge two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to take an 8-6 lead, but Oliver answered in a huge way, with a two-run home run to tie it up while extending his hit streak to 13 games. It was his second home run of the season. Ashland pushed the winning run across in the bottom of the 10^th after a leadoff single, a sacrifice bunt followed by a wild pitch at a sac fly.
 
Statworthy
Oliver kept up his good stretch of play, going 4-for-9 with a home run, a double and three RBI in both games combined.
 
In game one, Eisenmenger went 1-for-3 with two RBI while Diaz went 1-for-2 with a double. Nicolas Rana was tagged with the loss, going all 6.0 innings allowing seven runs (three earned) with two strikeouts.
 
In game two, Bennett went 2-for-4 with two runs while Diaz finished 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. Aaron Cusimano got the loss, finishing the final 2.1 innings while Hunter Weddel started and went 5.2 innings.
 
What's Next
Parkside will battle Purdue Northwest on the road next weekend beginning on Friday, March 29 at 4 p.m. The Rangers home opener is on Friday, April 5 at Historic Simmons Field.