Dimond 4, Service 3

Eli Lipinski and Shane Stephan carried the offense as the Lynx posted a wire-to-wire victory at Mulcahy Stadium over the previously undefeated Cougars in a battle for first place in the CIC.

Lipinski went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Stephan went 2-for-2 and scored three times. Lipinski's two-out single drove in Stephan in the top of the seventh inning that proved to be the difference after Service pulled within a run in the bottom half of the frame.

Lipinski also pitched the final two innings to earn his second save of the season for the Lynx (6-3, 3-0 CIC).

Stephan reached base all four times and has now reached in 12 consecutive plate appearances across three games on 9-for-9 hitting and three walks. Last year, he went 9-for-12 at the CIC Tournament so this dude has a track record for getting hot.

Stephan walked to open the seventh and later scored on Lipinski's two-out base knock after he poked one to left field to give Dimond a 4-2 cushion.

The offensive stars sort of overshadowed the great pitching effort of starter Aiden Ray, who struck out eight in five innings behind an effective fastball-curveball combo. He walked five in his first 2.1 innings and only one in the final 2.2 innings.

Dimond's defense converted a 1-3-6-1-4 caught stealing in the third inning and executed a beautiful 8-6-2 relay to cut down a run at the plate in the fourth inning.

Service's Owen Hickman was huge, going 2-for-3 at the plate with a run scored, walk and stolen base. He also pitched and struck out six batters in 4.1 innings. 

Coen Nicali went 1-for-3 with his team's lone RBI, his 11th run batted in over the last three games. He also drew a leadoff walk in the seventh inning and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-3.

Landon Martindale pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief and Jake Rafferty struck out the side in the seventh inning for the Cougars (8-1, 2-1 CIC).

Chugiak 14, Bartlett 0
Hunter Rau and Landon Luebke blasted triples to highlight the team's 12-hit attack and Josh Westerman fired a 2-hitter in five innings of work at Mulcahy Stadium.

Michael Boudreau went 3-for-3 and scored a pair of runs. Tyler Cage and Andrew Gruszynski each doubled. Gabe Gruszynski scored two runs and drove in a run for the Mustangs (6-4, 2-1 CIC).

Rau's RBI triple got the party started in the second inning, staking Chugiak to a 2-0 lead. Luebke's two-run triple pushed the lead to 4-0 and another run-scoring base knock by Rau made it 6-0.

Westerman racked up nine strikeouts, including five through three innings. 

Bartlett's base hits came from Wyatt Rust and Carl Colavecchio.