Statesmen Begin 2023 at 3-0
Winfield, Kan.–The William Penn baseball team had three big offensive performances in starting the season undefeated Friday and Saturday.
WPU (3-0) opened the year with a 15-9 win over host Southwestern Friday. The Statesmen then swept Hastings (Neb.) in a neutral-site doubleheader, 12-0 and 11-5.
WPU 15, Southwestern 9
The William Penn offense got on the board first as Tim Jean (Sr., Libertyville, Ill., Public Accounting) drew a walk, followed by a stolen base to get into scoring position. A couple pitches later Abraham Arroyo (So., Camuy, P.R., Wellness and Recreation) singled to left field to drive in Jean.
After a scoreless bottom half for the home team, Joel Holguin (So., San Bernardino, Calif., Sociology) and Dillan Schrock (Sr., Shingle Springs, Calif., Sociology) both singled to start the second inning for the navy and gold. A couple batters later, Blair Speas (So., O’Fallon, Mo., Undecided) drove in Holguin to take a 2-0 lead. Speas stole second on the next pitch, allowing E.J. Roncone (Jr., Gurnee, Ill., Sports Management) who pitch-ran for Schrock to score from third.
Southwestern had an answer, scoring four runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-3 lead. After giving up those four runs, Nick George (Jr., Sarnia, Ontario., Sociology) locked in, not allowing a run in the third. In the fourth inning, Holguin and Schrock both reached base on throwing errors.
The next batter, Nathan Jessell (Jr., Napa, Calif., Sociology) also reached on a throwing error as both Rocone and Holguin scored and Jessell advanced to third base. Speas added to the Statesmen tally, singling to left-center to drive in Jessell, giving WPU a 6-4 lead, but the home team cut into the lead in the bottom half of the frame with one run.
In the top half of the fifth, William Penn extended its lead. Arroyo drew a walk to start the inning, and Justin Martinez (Jr., Bronx, N.Y., Sports Management) singled to third, advancing Arroyo to second. Trevor Dooley (Jr., Prole, Iowa, Computer Science) then reached based on a throwing error. Holguin grounded into a fielder’s choice as Arroyo came around to score, and Schrock split the left side for an RBI single. A couple batters later, Jessell struck out swinging, but Holguin scored on the play.
Stetson Denning (Sr., Queen Creek, Ariz., Sports Management) took the mound in the fifth for the navy and gold, but saw Southwestern score four runs in the frame, with three being unearned.
The top of the sixth brought across four more runs as Arroyo singled again to drive in Jean. Dooley followed with a ground ball that turned into a throwing error to score Arroyo. Holguin kept it going with an RBI double to center field, scoring Dooley. Schrock then stepped to the plate and doubled down the right field line to bring Holguin around, giving the Statesmen a 13-9 lead.
Neither team scored in the seventh and eighth frames, but two runs came across in the ninth for WPU. Jessell made it on base off a fielding error and then moved to second on a wild pitch. After back-to-back outs for the navy and gold, Jean stepped up to the plate and drove a ball over the right-center wall to finish off the scoring for the Statesmen. Denning, who tossed five innings, shut the door on the home team in the final frame to claim the win out of relief.
Jean and Schrock had a great game, turning in a three-hit effort. Arroyo, Holguin, and Speas all tallied two hits in the contest, while Holguin came across the plate four times. Jean scored three times as well, while three other Statesmen scored twice.
George pitched four innings in the start, giving up five earned runs, while striking out 10 batters.
WPU 12, Hastings 0
William Penn got things going early in the bottom of the first inning, loading the bases and Franklin Aparicio (Sr., Panama City, Panama, Business Management) advanced home on a passed ball. A couple batters later, a walk by Schrock loaded the bases again for the Statesmen and Martinez drove in Jean to take a 2-0 lead. The navy and gold scored one last time in the inning on another passed ball to take an early 3-0 lead.
WPU ignited another rally in the second. Speas doubled down the left field line, followed by a Jean walk. A double steal call then brought Speas around to score. Arroyo and George both walked to load the bases for the navy and gold and Schrock followed with a walk of his own as Jean scored. Martinez then singled, bringing in two more runs for William Penn.
Jessell kept the runs coming, doubling to left field to plate two more runs for the navy and gold. Aparicio finished the scoring for the Statesmen in the second with an RBI single to give William Penn eight runs in the frame.
With an 11-run cushion, Brian Thomas (Jr., Shingle Springs, Calif.) attacked the Bronco batters, striking out eight in six scoreless innings.
Arroyo tallied the last run of the opener with a double to right field bring around Aparicio.
Matt Shover (Grad., Barry, Ill., Masters of Sports Management) took the mound in the seventh and closed it out with a scoreless inning.
Aparicio led the offense with three hits. Martinez drove in three runs and Jessell had two RBIs. The quartet of Aparicio, Jean, Arroyo, and Speas all scored twice.
WPU 11, Hastings 5
The William Penn offense got off to another hot start with four runs in the opening frame as Dooley drove in Aparicio. A few batters later, Leland Riley II (Fr., Victorville, Calif., kinesiology) doubled to right field to bring home both Holguin and Jean. Martinez followed that with a single to left-center, driving home Jack Nesje (Fr., Sioux Falls, S.D., Biology and Sociology).
Two more Statesmen runs were tallied in the second. Jean grounded out to shortstop, but was able to bring Speas around to score. Arroyo then hit a sacrifice fly to tally Aparicio.
WPU tacked on four more runs in the third to pull out to a 10-0 advantage.
Ty Harter (So., Galesburg, Ill.) threw two shutout innings for the navy and gold, but HC pushed two runs in the bottom of the third. Riley II answered with a home run in the fourth to essentially put the game away.
Hastings scored one run in the fifth and two in the sixth inning, but it was not enough to catch the Statesmen.
Riley II paced the Statesmen in the nightcap with two hits and four RBIs. Martinez managed two hits as well. Jean and Dooley recorded two RBIs, while five players scored two runs apiece.
Harter pitched four innings with six strikeouts en route to the win. Four others saw time on the mound with Roncone having the best outing as he struck out the side in the seventh.
“Good to pick up three road wins.” Head Coach Mike Laird said. “We have serval areas we need to clean up in the upcoming weeks, starting with the Joplin tournament next weekend.”
Next Up: William Penn will travel to Joplin, Mo. next Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, WPU meets Viterbo (Wis.) at 12:30 p.m. and Dakota State (S.D.) at 5:30 p.m. On Sunday, the Statesmen take on Concordia (Neb.) at 10 a.m. and Saint Mary (Kan.) at 3 p.m.
