Bremen Athletics

The Bremen baseball program took a trip to Nappanee on Saturday morning and returned home with a sweep. Led by a composed pitching performance from senior Zack Buszkiewicz and a sound defense behind him, the varsity won 5-3 for their ninth win in ten tries. Buszkiewicz went the distance on the mound, only needing 84 pitches to get the win. Coming off a late night at Knox, the Lions didn't miss a beat, battling Northwood back and forth in an early pitcher's duel. Both teams attacked the zone and played clean defense until Northwood got one across in the bottom of the third on a ground out to shortstop. Bremen answered right back in the top of the fourth. Aiden Alvardo led off with a single and scored on a two out, two strike hit by Jack Wildauer to even the score. Buskiewicz and the defense answered with a quick frame in the bottom half. The teams remained even through the fifth, with both leaving runners on base, setting up an exciting finish. Senior third baseman Max Barnes led off the 6th with a line drive triple into the right-center gap and scored on an errant pick off move during the next at bat. The Lions were not done, however, as Jace Pippenger legged out an infield single and Corban Van Vuren drew a two out walk to set up red-hot catcher Zack Rouch. Rouch blasted a triple to center field, bringing both runners around and pushing the Bremen lead to 4-1. He came in to score on another passed ball to make it 5-1. Buszkiewicz fired a four pitch bottom of the sixth to seal the momentum swing for Bremen. After a quiet top of the 7th, the senior hurler took the hill looking for a complete game win on the road. Northwood managed to load the bases and push two runs across, setting up a tense at bat with the game on the line. Buszkiewicz pounded the zone and induced a fielder's choice to shortstop to end the game with the Lions leading 5-3. Another exciting victory for Bremen, who is now 9-1 with the win. The Lions continued to put balls in play, come up with timely hits, and execute on defense, only striking out three times in the game. Buszkiewicz completed seven innings without a strikeout - a testament to the Bremen defense and their pitcher's ability to attack the zone. The Lions will rest up on Sunday before hosting LaPorte on Monday afternoon. Saturday, May 2nd Bremen 5 Northwood 3 Hitters C Zack Rouch: 2-4, 3B, R, 2 RBI RF Jack Wildauer: 2-3, RBI, BB, SB 3B Max Barnes: 1-3, 3B, R, HBP Pitcher SP Zack Buszkiewicz: 7.0 IP, W, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 84 P JV also won 14-6 in their concurrent game. A hungry lineup of Lions brought the sticks, banging out 13 hits behind solid pitching performances from Brady Krumrie and Liam Ullery. The team scored runs in every inning aside from the 2nd and played solid defense throughout the game to go along with sound situational hitting. JV found itself trailing 5-4 entering the 4th inning, but answered right back with four more runs, highlighted by a triple from Krumrie. Sophomore Liam Ullery took the hill to begin the bottom of the 4th and mowed down the Panthers, striking out six over four innings of work and only allowing five baserunners. RBI singles from sophomore Caythan Cullen and Ullery extended the Lion lead to 11-5. Cullen added a two run double in the 6th to make it 13-5. Ullery and the JV defense took it from there, closing out what was ultimately a 14-6 victory. Saturday, May 2nd Bremen JV 14 Northwood JV 6 Hitters LF Caythan Cullen: 3-5, 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI C Gus Meert: 1-2, 3 R, RBI, 2 BB, HBP 3B Hernan Mejia: 2-5, R, RBI SS Aaron Jimenez: 2-4, 2B, 3 R, BB Pitchers SP Brady Krumrie: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 5 R, 6 BB, 5 K // 2-4, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, BB RP Liam Ullery: 4.0 IP, W, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K // 2-3, 2B, 2 R, RBI, BB, HBP JV will take a 5-0 record to John Glenn on Monday.