Statesmen Split with Pirates
Parkville, Mo. — The Statesmen baseball team split its two games in nonconference competition against the Park Pirates on Tuesday.
Park took game one by a score of 10-9 and William Penn took the second game 15-11.
Park 10 – WPU 9
Sawyer Hardman (Jr., American Fork, Utah, Kinesiology) scored the first run of the day in the second inning with a solo shot homer to give William Penn an early lead.
The Pirates responded in the bottom of the inning with a run of their own to tie the game at one apiece.
William Penn picked back up where it left off in the third inning when McGwire Jephson (Jr., Rigby, Idaho, Business Management) scored an unearned run as Abraham Arroyo (Grad., Camuy, P.R., Master’s of Sports Management) made it to first on an error. He made it home next when Hardman hit a triple. Ened Perez (Jr., Orocovis, P.R., Kinesiology) then hit a single and Hardman came home and the Statesmen led 5-1.
Park scored five runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 6-5 advantage.
Shane Mailloux (So., Santee, Calif., Business Management) sent Jephson and Andres Pineda (Sr., Cartagena, Colombia, Business Management) in for two more runs with an single. Perez grounded out as Logan Bialek (Jr., South Elgin, Ill., Exercise Science) scored the final Statesmen run of the inning for a 8-6 lead in the middle of the fourth.
A two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning by the Pirates tied the contest again.
The ninth run by William Penn came in the sixth inning when Perez reached first on a fielder’s choice and Mailloux scored.
Park scored a run in both the seventh and eighth innings to take game one.
Jephson, Mailloux, and Hardman each scored four runs, Hardman led the Statesmen with three hits and Mailloux added two. Perez paced the team with three RBIs, while Mailloux and Hardman each drove in two.
When speaking about game one, Head Coach Mike Laird said, “We had poor pitch execution. 3 leadoff walks scored. Poor sequencing led to losing 9 1-1 counts to ball2. We tried to get too fine. Sawyer led the offense with 3 big hits including a bomb.”
WPU 15 – Park 11
The Pirates struck first with a run in the bottom of the first frame.
William Penn responded when Arroyo hit a leadoff homer over the left field wall. Jagger Mitchell (Sr., Rock Springs, Wyo., Business Management) followed with an RBI-double, as Perez scored. Bialek and Adrian Ayala (Jr., Omaha, Neb., Exercise Science) made it home next when Pineda made it on base thanks to a throwing error. Jephson finished the Statesmen scoring in the inning with a double as Pineda scored another for the navy and gold as they led 5-1.
Park scored four runs in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at 5-to-5 before scoring another in the bottom of the third to lead by one.
WPU responded in-turn when Jephson hit a sacrifice fly and allowed Bialek to make his way home. Aiden North (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Industrial Technology) hit his first RBI of the day in the next at-bat on a single as Pineda scored. North made it all the way around the bases when Hardman hit an RBI single up the middle to give William Penn an 8-6 advantage.
Another three-run inning followed for the Statesmen when Mitchell garnered an RBI double and Pineda had an RBI triple as Ayala and Bialek scored respectively. Pineda followed them home on a wild pitch for the final run of the top of the fifth inning.
Park got back on the board in the bottom of the frame to make it 11-7.
Perez hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth frame as Arroyo scored another run for the Statesmen.
The Pirates then pulled back within a run in the bottom of the sixth inning at 12-11.
The Statesmen grabbed a few insurance runs in the top of the seventh, with Arroyo hitting a two-RBI double that scored North and Jephson. Arroyo made on an error for the final run of the day.
Arroyo, Bialek, and Pineda each scored three runs, while North, Arroyo, Perez, Mitchell, and Pineda.
Next Up: William Penn returns home on Saturday as it gets back to conference play when Peru State comes to Oskaloosa for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
