Statesmen Swept by League-Leading Vikings

William Penn University Athletics

Oskaloosa–The William Penn baseball team failed to deliver the knockout punch in the opener and unfortunately things unraveled from there as the Statesmen were swept by Grand View in a Midwest Collegiate Conference doubleheader Thursday.

William Penn (14-14, 4-4 MCC) fell by scores of 3-2 and 9-0.

The home team struck first as Cory DeRush (Sr., Grand Junction, Colo., Business Management) doubled home William Vazquez (So., North Hollywood, Calif., General Accounting) in the third inning. Matt Emerson (Sr., Saugus, Calif., Business Management) then pushed it to 2-0 as he laid down a perfect suicide-squeeze bunt to bring in Kenny Hall (Sr., Morgan Hill., Calif., Exercise Science) in the fourth.

Matt Vasquez (Sr., Lancaster, Calif., Business Management) worked himself out of a few jams in the early frames, but could not hold off Grand View (11-11, 10-2 MCC) in the later innings. The Vikings finally broke through with one in the sixth and then took the lead for good with two more in the seventh. Vasquez (3-1) gave up just one earned run on nine scattered hits; he struck out five batters as well.

WPU only managed six hits in the opener, but it did not get any better in the latter contest. The offense was limited to two base knocks, while GVU erupted for a seven-run fourth inning. Two more runs were added in the fifth as Juvenal Terrazas (Sr., Sylmar, Calif., Physical Education) took the loss to fall to 1-3. He went four innings and permitted just two runs with three strikeouts.

Four other hurlers stepped onto the mound with Tyler Martinez (Jr., San Diego, Calif., Sociology) (2/3 inning) and Jacob Davidson (So., Bloomfield, Iowa, Psychology & Sociology) (one frame) both refusing to give up any further scoring damage out of the bullpen.

Next Up: William Penn travels to La Crosse, Wis. next Tuesday to face Viterbo in an MCC doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.