WESTFIELD, Ind. – The Greyhound baseball team kicked off the 2016 GLVC Baseball Championship on Thursday afternoon, taking on Rockhurst University in a battle between the second seed from the GLVC East Division and the third seed from the West.
 
UIndy got off to a great start, recording four runs on five straight hits in their first trip to the plate. However, the Hawks would answer with 10 unanswered runs, five coming by way of the home run.  The Hounds were able to get back within striking distance late and even brought the go-ahead run to the dish in the eighth, but were unable to complete the comeback, falling 11-8.
 
After the Hawks took an early 1-0 lead, the Greyhound bats responded with five straight base knocks to open the bottom of the first. Anthony Asalon led off with a triple and came in to score on Colin Hawk's RBI double. Brady Thomas brought Hawk home with a single up the middle and came in to score when Kyle Orloff belted a long home run to make it a 4-1 game.
 
Storm Joop followed that up with a single, chasing Rockhurst starter Michael Lydon-Lorson before he could record an out. Jake Goessling took over on the hill for the Hawks, and he responded by holding the Hounds to just one earned run on four hits over the next 6 1/3 innings.
 
Rockhurst got runs back in the second and fourth innings on solo home runs from Brandon Mikulka, before taking advantage of a two-out Greyhound error in the fifth that led to four unearned runs.
 
The Hawks tacked on three more runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to open up an 11-4 lead with the Greyhounds down to their last nine outs.
 
But the Greyhounds refused to go down quietly and after five straight scoreless frames, the Hounds broke through for three runs in the bottom of the seventh with Thomas, Orloff and Macy Holdsworth collecting RBIs.
 
UIndy loaded the bases with one out in the eighth and got another run back on a run scoring single from Joop that brought the go-ahead run to the plate with two down. But Carter Pranger was retired on strikes, leaving the bags full and the Hounds down by three.
 
After Rockhurst left the sacks jacked in the top of the ninth, UIndy brought the tying run to the plate with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth following singles from Holdsworth and Brendan Dudas to lead off the inning. That's where the rally ended as Thomas Cargile entered the game and retired the next three batters to end the game.
 
Joop finished the day 4-for-5 with an RBI while Asalon (3-for-5, 2 3B) and Thomas (2-for-4, 2 RBI) also recorded multi-hit games for the Hounds. Jake Shaw (5-5) took the loss for UIndy, allowing three earned runs on 10 hits with a pair of walks and four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings of work.
 
The loss drops UIndy to 32-19 on the year and sets up an elimination game on Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. against either Missouri S&T or Illinois Springfield. Check back with UIndyAthletics.com or follow us on Twitter @UIndyAthletics to find out the Greyhounds' opponent when the Miners and Prairie Stars go final.