Baseball: Coldwater sweeps Lumen Christi, wraps up Interstate 8 Conference Championship

JACKSON — Last year the Coldwater Cardinals fell one game short of a baseball conference championship, falling in their final game of the season to the Marshall Redhawks, a game that if won would have created a tie atop the Interstate 8 Conference standings. Tuesday night Coldwater did to let their chances at a championship slip away again as the Cardinals earned a hard fought sweep over the Jackson Lumen Christi Titans to wrap up sole possession of the Interstate 8 Conference Championship with a conference record of 12-2.

Coldwater had to take to the road Tuesday for their doubleheader battle with Lumen Christi, heading to the very unfriendly confines of Lumen Christi High School. Coldwater was not to be deterred this time, defeating Lumen Christi in the sweep, winning by scores of 1-0 and 6-4.

Game one of the doubleheader was a pitcher’s dual and Coldwater’s Nate Tappenden was dealing all night long, holding Lumen Christi to just two hits while striking out 11 batters en route to the 1-0 win.

The lone run of the game came in the top of the second inning and it all started with Brock Thornton reaching base via an error by the Lumen Christi third baseman. Garrett Johns followed the error up with a single to left field, moving Thornton over to second base with one out in the inning. One pitch later senior Cole Barker singled on a line drive to centerfield, bringing home Thornton and giving the Cardinals the early 1-0 lead.

That would be all the offense Tappenden and the stingy Coldwater defense would need as the Cardinals held Lumen off the board, only allowing one more hit the rest of the way, as the Cardinals took the 1-0 win.

Tappenden was dominant in the win on the bump, throwing seven innings of two hit baseball while striking out 11 batters.

Logan Farmer and Garrett Johns both recorded multi-hit games, with both notching a pair of singles. Also adding singles were Nate Tappenden, Carter Bordner, Brock Thornton and Cole Barker. Barker knocked in the only Rbi while Thornton scored the only run of the game.

Game two of the twin bill saw a little more offense from both teams, although Coldwater did out hit Lumen Christi 13-4 overall in the 6-4 victory.

The game was scoreless through three full innings until Coldwater put up two runs in the top of the fourth inning thanks to a Cole Barker RBI single to right field, scoring Brynden Massey, and a Brock Thornton RBI single to left field, scoring Carter Bordner.

Lumen Christi came back with a single run in the bottom of the fourth inning, closing the score to 2-1 after four full innings.

The Cardinals added to their lead in the fifth inning after plating three big runs. The scoring started thanks to a Logan Farmer single to lead off the inning and after Farmer stole second base a Nate Tappenden line drive single to centerfield allowed Farmer to score, giving Coldwater a 3-1 lead. One batter later it was Brynden Massey hitting a line drive single to center field, bringing home Tappenden, pushing the lead to 4-1. Coldwater added their final run of the inning on a Carter Bordner single to left field, allowing pinch runner Drake Thornton to score, giving Coldwater the 5-1 lead.

Lumen Christi wasn’t about to go away just yet as they came roaring back in the bottom of the fifth inning thanks to a bases loaded RBI double from G. Swan, plating three runs and closing the score to 5-4 after five full innings.

Coldwater added a big insurance run in the sixth inning, an inning that started off with a Joseph Closson bunt single. Two batters later it was Tappenden hitting a hard line drive double to right field, bringing Closson home on the play, giving Coldwater the 6-4 lead.

Coldwater’s defense buckled down and Lumen Christi only managed two more base runners the rest of the way as the Cardinals held on for the big 6-4 victory.

Brock Thornton took the win on the mound for Coldwater after throwing four innings in the start, allowing three hits and four runs with seven walks and five strikeouts.

Joseph Closson came in to record the save, throwing the final three innings while allowing one hit and one walk with five strikeouts.

Nate Tappenden led the Coldwater offense, going 2 for 4 with a single and a double with two RBIs and a run scored.

Brynden Massey also had a huge game in the cleanup spot, going 3 for 4 with three singles, one RBI and a run scored.

Also notching multi-hit games was Carter Bordner who had two singles, an RBI and a run scored and Cole Barker who had two singles, a walk and an RBI.

Adding to the Coldwater victory at the plate was Joseph Closson with a single and a run scored; Logan Farmer with a single and a run scored; Garrett Johns with a single; Brock Thornton with a single and an RBI; and Cole Heineman with a single.

With the two game sweep over Lumen Christi the Cardinals improve to 18-10 overall and 12-2 in the Interstate 8 conference, wrapping up the conference championship in the process. Coldwater will next see action on Thursday when they host Kalamazoo Central as they prepare for the opening round of the MHSAA tournament next week.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: Baseball: Coldwater sweeps Lumen Christi, wraps up Interstate 8 Conference Championship