LEESBURG, Fla. – The Trine University Baseball team swept a doubleheader against North Central (Minn.) this afternoon. They took the first contest 8-3, only trailing in the first inning, and then broke up a comeback attempt in the second with a 7-4 victory.
 
Rylan McBride got the win in game one, allowing just one hit in four innings. Luke Burford, Nathan Gilmet, and Cole Schmidthuber each had mulit-hit games. Burford collected both Thunder extra base hits with a double and a first inning solo shot to left field.
 
The Rams scored twice in the first on a walk and wild pitch. Burford responded immediately with a lead off homer. Trine made quick work of the Rams batting order in the second and added two more runs on a Noah Prewitt single and Max Hoogeveen wore a pitch to earn a walk and score Schmidthuber.
 
McBride struck out two more in the third to keep the Thunder lead at 3-2. Trine got the offense going again in the fourth. The Thunder scored two, once on a wild pitch and again on a Gilmet single. Burford added a double in the fifth to score Schmidthuber and Dane DuBois. Hoogeveen singled to score Burford.
 
Trine led 8-2 at the end of the fifth but allowed one run in the sixth to move the score to 6-3. Steven Kessinger finished off the game on the mound for the team win one inning of work that including a strikeout.
 
Noah Brettin got the start in game two and pitched spectacularly in his five innings of work, allowing no runs on one hit and two walks. He struck out eight batters in the contest. It was Dylan Jenkins who earned the win however, entering the game in the sixth with the score tied at four. He finished out the last two innings allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out four.
 
The Rams' starter was wild in the contest, walking the first two Thunder batters before hitting another and bringing Tyler Wise home on a wild pitch. After a pitching change, Kyle Martin got his first hit with a two RBI single to give Trine a 3-0 lead after one.
 
Brettin struck out one in the first and third, two in the second and sent three to the dugout swinging in the fourth. He got his final K in the fifth to finish his strong outing. Sam Beckham added a solo homer in the sixth to push the Thunder lead to 4-0.
 
The Rams took advantage of the pitching change in the bottom of the sixth and ultimately tied the game at four with a two-run double, an error and sacrifice fly.
 
The game wasn't meant for extra innings though, with the Thunder scoring three runs in the top of the seventh to take back the lead. Cole Temple brought in the game winner with a single and Beckham added two insurance runs later in the inning.  After walking the first batter of the inning, Jenkins finished off his win with two strikeouts and a pop out.
 
The Thunder improve to 6-4 overall following the pair of victories. They will finish off their time in Florida with a single nine-inning game tomorrow, Saturday, March 8. They are set to face Moravian University beginning at 9 a.m.