William Penn 1-1 After First Day of MCC Tourney
William Penn University Athletics
Waterloo–To return to nationals for the first time since 2009, the Statesmen baseball team will have to do a lot of work in the consolation bracket the next three days after going 1-1 at the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament Saturday.
#4 seed WPU (25-18) won its opening game 7-1 over #5 Grand View, but then fell to the loser’s side of the bracket with a 2-0 setback to top-seeded Viterbo. The navy and gold will now take on the winner of Grand View and #3 St. Ambrose on Sunday at 7 p.m.
The Vikings put across the first run of the day in the top of the first, but the Statesmen took control from there. Cory DeRush (Jr., Grand Junction, Colo., Business Management) led off the bottom of the first with a double and came home on a sacrifice fly by Stan Simmons (Sr., Brooklyn, N.Y., Physical Education).
The squad took the lead for good in the second, tallying two runs help from two GVU errors. Another run was plated in the third when William Vazquez (Fr., North Hollywood, Calif., General Accounting) plated Simmons on a single.
The biggest inning of the day came in the sixth, however, as a double by Simmons cleared loaded bases to make it 7-1. William Penn outhit the Vikings 9-7, led by Simmons finishing 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Enrique Alvarado (Sr., Lancaster, Calif., Sociology) reached base three times (2-for-3 with a walk), while DeRush was 2-for-5 in the win. Ryan Keeton (Jr., McCordsville, Ind., Biology) drew a pair of walks as well.
Josh Ruiz (Jr., Chula Vista, Calif., General Mathematics) remained perfect (6-0) with the victory. After a shaky start, the junior settled down, giving up just one earned run on six hits in eight innings. He struck out six and walked two.
Rafael Villafana (Sr., Sylmar, Calif., Communications) allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth frame.
The Statesmen unfortunately had the tables turned on them against Viterbo. The team held a 7-6 advantage in base knocks, but failed to notch the timely hit.
The V-Hawks scored once in the first and once more in the fifth off of Kyle Maldonado (Jr., Centerville, Iowa, Physical Education) and made it hold up. Maldonado (4-1) permitted two runs (both earned) on six hits in eight innings of action. The junior struck out two and walked one.
WPU, paced by a 2-for-3 effort from Alvarado and a 2-for-5 showing from DeRush, had numerous scoring opportunities. The Statesmen left 11 runners on base, highlighted by loading the bases in the fifth and putting players in scoring position in the fourth, sixth, seventh, and ninth frames.
