Statesmen Take Pair of Tight Wins to Start League

William Penn University Athletics

William Penn University Athletics

Oskaloosa–The William Penn baseball team may have just needed some home cooking to cast out those late-inning demons as it swept Viterbo in Midwest Collegiate Conference action Wednesday.

The Statesmen (12-10, 2-0 MCC) won their league openers 2-0 and 4-3.

Josh Ruiz (Sr., Chula Vista, Calif., General Mathematics) improved to 4-0 on the year as he finished one out shy of another complete game shutout. The senior struck out seven (two walks) over 6 2/3 innings, but had to hand the ball over to Logan Overly (Jr., Oakley, Calif., Secondary Education) to wrap it up. Overly made it interesting though by allowing a single to the first batter he faced, moving the tying run to second, but struck out the next batter to end the contest.

Connor Sutton (Jr., Gilroy, Calif., Sociology) and Robert Phiakeo (Jr., San Diego, Calif., Business Management) provided all the offense Ruiz would need as both had RBI singles in the third inning. Phiakeo was 3-for-3 at the plate, while J.P. Rios (Jr., San Diego, Calif., Business Management) finished 2-for-3 in a matchup that witnessed WPU hold an 8-7 edge in hits over Viterbo (4-14, 0-6 MCC).

The V-Hawks bettered the Statesmen in the hits department in game two (10-6), but WPU was more advantageous. The visitors put all three of their runs on the board early on with one in each of the first three frames.

The navy and gold originally countered with one run in the first as pinchrunner Chris Bartmann (Sr., Washington, Iowa, Secondary Education) scored on an error.

Sutton and Phiakeo then began the fourth with a single and double, respectively. Kenny Hall (Sr., Morgan Hill., Calif., Exercise Science) brought in Sutton on a single of his own, while Rios’s two-bagger plated Phiakeo.

Tied at 3-3 entering the bottom of the sixth, Hall tallied the go-ahead run. The senior was 2-for-3 to pace the hitters.

Jacob Logan (Sr., Galesburg, Ill., Psychology) went just two innings in the start, but Juvenal Terrazas (Sr., Sylmar, Calif., Physical Education) kept the home team in it with a great effort in long relief. He did not permit an earned one in 4 1/3 innings of five-hit ball (two strikeouts). Terrazas collected the win to move to 1-2 on the season.

As good as the senior was, he still ran into trouble in the seventh with two singles in the first three at-bats. Overly was then called upon once again and after a single loaded the bases, the cool-as-the-other-side-of-the-pillow closer forced a infield pop-out before finishing his third save with a strikeout.

Next Up: William Penn remains at home this weekend to host Clarke in a four-game MCC set. Saturday’s double dip begins at 1 p.m., while Sunday’s twinbill commences at noon.

Posted by on Mar 26 2015. Filed under College Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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