William Penn Athletics News February 21
William Penn Women's Athletics
Lady Statesmen Remain 28th
Oskaloosa–The Penn women’s basketball team enter this week’s conference tournament knowing it needs to come away with the crown if it hopes for a national tournament berth as the tenth NAIA Division II poll was released today.
Penn (21-9, 12-4 MCC) won its lone game of the week last Saturday and continues to be #28 with 37 points this week.
The lone undefeated Division II team (30-0), Davenport (Mich.) is the nation’s #1 for the seventh week in a row with 405 points and all 15 first-place votes. The Great Plains Athletic Conference dominates the rest of the top five with members Northwestern, Morningside, and Sioux Falls (S.D.) in positions 2-4, while Walsh (Ohio) jumps two slots to fifth.
Midwest Collegiate Conference regular-season champion St. Ambrose is #12, while Iowa Wesleyan is 16th. Mount Mercy is tied for 39th with one vote to give the MCC four teams in the poll. Eight programs, including four from the GPAC, represent the state of Iowa in the ranking.
The #3 seed Lady Statesmen open the MCC Tournament Thursday by hosting #6 seed Clarke in Oskaloosa at 7 p.m.
Statesmen Take Three of Four in Opening Weekend
Wichita, Kan.–The Penn baseball team was finally able to hit the diamond last weekend, beginning its 2011 campaign with three solid wins.
In a triangular weekend that featured Penn, host Friends, and Morningside, the Statesmen (3-1) defeated the home team 8-1 and then fell 6-1 Saturday. Penn played again Sunday with two very different wins, taking a 4-3 decision over Morningside in ten innings and then pounding Friends 10-0 in five innings.
Penn 8, Friends 1
The Statesmen scored in the first half inning of the year courtesy of their top two offensive players from 2010. Kyle Humphrey (Sr., Boise, Idaho, Skagit Valley CC) singled home Jerry Hernandez (Sr., Moreno Valley, Calif., Chaffey CC) to make it 1-0 early.
Penn added three more in the third, highlighted by a two-run double from Evelio Ahumada (Jr., Hacienda Heights, Calif., Citrus CC) that brought home Hernandez and Humphrey. Hernandez batted in Stanley Muller (Jr., Tucson, Ariz., Cochise CC) on another double earlier in the frame.
Three more crossed home plate in the fifth as the Statesmen took advantage of two Falcon errors. A.J. Fields (Jr., Galesburg, Ill., Arkansas-Little Rock) produced a run-scoring groundout in the inning.
One final run was tacked on in the sixth, while Friends responded with its lone run in the bottom half of the inning.
Offensively, Hernandez stole the show by going 3-for-4 with three runs. Penn outhit Friends 8-4, while the Falcons also shot themselves in their collective foot with six errors.
David Ness (Jr., Purcellville, Va., Frederick CC) was dominant in his navy and gold debut, tossing five shutout innings. The junior (1-0) allowed just one hit with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Darren Gay (Jr., El Cajon, Calif., San Diego Mesa CC) relieved him in the sixth and allowed one run (earned) on three hits in two frames of work. He struck out two batters.
Friends 6, Penn 1
The table was unfortunately turned on the Statesmen in the nightcap as Penn fell behind 6-1 after the opening frame and could not recover.
The lone run came off the bat of Hernandez, plating Miguel Castillon (Sr., Simi Valley, Calif., LA Mission CC) with a one-bagger.
Jonathan Davis (Jr., San Diego, Calif., Southwestern CC) was roughed up in his Penn debut, giving up six runs (five earned) on five hits in one-plus inning of work. He had one strikeout with one base on balls in falling to 0-1.
Chris Freedman (Sr., Walnut, Calif., Citrus CC) did all he could to keep his team in the game with five scoreless frame (two hits), striking out five in his outing.
The Statesmen were on the bottom side of a 7-4 margin in hits.
Penn 4, Morningside 3 (10)
Trailing 3-0 entering the fifth inning, Penn was in jeopardy of dropping consecutive games, but a three-run fifth tied the contest and forced extras. The sloppy frame (two Mustang errors) included an RBI single by Aaron Laird (Jr., Oskaloosa, Oskaloosa HS) to plate Fields, while Muller’s sacrifice brought in Chris Witrado (Sr., Fresno, Calif., West Hills CC). Laird scored at the end of the inning as well.
After four more innings passed without a run being scored, Penn broke the tie as Castillon’s single was enough to tally Cory Randall (Sr., What Cheer, Tri-County HS) with the eventual game-winning run.
Castillon, Hernandez, Humphrey, and Ahumada all recorded two hits. Penn owned an 11-5 edge in base knocks.
After performing poorly in the first two innings, starter Jorge Quezada (So., San Ysidro, Calif., Castle Park HS) settled in and allowed a total of three runs (two earned) on four hits in five innings. He tallied eight strikeouts with two walks, but did not figure into the decision.
Gay (1-0) was untouchable in his second relief appearance of the weekend, striking out three in four perfect frames.
Davis reconciled his mistakes from Saturday with a solid tenth frame, allowing just one hit and striking out two to pick up his first save as a Statesmen.
Penn 10, Friends 0 (5)
Two runs in the first, three in the third, and five more in the fifth helped Penn easily sink the Falcons in the weekend’s finale.
Although no balls left the park all weekend, Penn provided plenty of power in the win with five doubles and two triples, both by Muller.
Castillon, Hernandez, and Muller all posted two hits, while Hernandez tallied three RBIs and Humphrey scored three runs. Muller also had two RBIs and Randall rounded the bases twice.
The Statesmen produced 11 hits, compared to six scattered ones by Friends.
Steve Enriquez (Jr., Castro Valley, Calif., Laney CC) earned his first ‘W’ at Penn, allowing just six hits in a five-inning shutout. He sent three batters to their dugout on strikeouts and walked only one.
Next: Penn travels to Florida for its annual spring break trip from February 27-March 5. The team is slated to play 12 games over seven days.
