By Noah Grant / Sports Reporter / Davenport, FLA.
-The St. Cloud State baseball team fell in game four of the RussMatt Invitational on Saturday with a 4-0 loss to Ashland University in Davenport, Florida. It was the first time this season that the Huskies have been shutout, as they managed just one hit against Golden Eagle pitching. Ashland limited the Huskies to four base runners, and only one reached second base.
Ashland took the lead in the second inning against Huskies sophomore starter AJ Price. After a leadoff walk, Price struck out the next two batters before back-to-back singles by Max Albert and Sean Krueckeberg brought home the first run of the game. The Golden Eagles would add two more in the third on a two-run double by Nate King to increase the lead to 3-0.
Price would bounce back to strand a few Ashland base runners across his five innings of work, and
finished with a career high eight strikeouts. Only two of the three runs the left-hander allowed were
earned, and he finished tied for the longest start of his career. From there, junior Seth Luther pitched the final three frames, working out of trouble twice and allowing just one unearned run.
The Huskies had baserunners in the first and third on walks, as redshirt senior Liam Moreno and redshirt junior Hayden Frank both reached on the free pass. The Huskies were unable to capitalize, as they went hitless until redshirt senior Eric Bello lined a two-out single in the fifth. Senior Nick Ibrahim was the final baserunner for SCSU, drawing a leadoff walk in the eighth but was thrown out trying to steal third.
Ashland would scratch across one more in the bottom of the eighth on a single, error, and sacrifice bunt to push the score to 4-0. Griffin Ailes picked up the win, working seven strong innings on the mound for Ashland. David Smith and Chase Carter both pitched an inning of relief to close out the game.

Photo credit: SCSU Athletics.