WPU 2-0 on Day 1 of MCC Tournament
William Penn University Athletics
Waterloo–An upset over the top seed has put the Statesmen baseball team in a terrific position after the first day of the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament Saturday.
#4 seed William Penn (24-22) opened the day with a 9-2 win over #5 St. Ambrose and then continued in the winner’s bracket with a 7-5 victory over #1 AIB. WPU will attempt to qualify for the championship round with a win against #2 Grand View Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
The navy and gold were in jeopardy of falling into the loser’s side of the bracket midway through their contest versus the Fighting Bees (22-24). The Statesmen trailed 2-0 entering the top of the fifth, but scored three runs to take the lead for the first time and for good.
Patrick Roxbury (Sr., Canyon, Calif., Sociology) provided the big hit with a two-run single. The senior then helped his squad to another three-spot in the sixth with a two-RBI double. Connor Sutton (Jr., Gilroy, Calif., Sociology) added a run-scoring single as well.
William Penn kept pouring it on in the ensuing two frames with a Matt Emerson (Sr., Saugus, Calif., Business Management) two-run double in the seventh and a Sho Serrano (Sr., Lancaster, Calif., Physical Education) RBI one-bagger in the eighth.
Roxbury finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs, while Emerson was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Emerson, Rios, and pinchrunner Chris Bartmann (Sr., Washington, Iowa, Secondary Education) all came around twice. Robert Phiakeo (Jr., San Diego, Calif., Business Management) also reached base four times the unconventional way as he was walked twice and hit by pitch twice.
After a bit of a rough start, Josh Ruiz (Sr., Chula Vista, Calif., General Mathematics) settled in and threw eight impressive innings. The senior permitted the two runs (both earned) on three hits, while striking out four and walking two. He is now 7-1 this spring.
Logan Overly (Jr., Oakley, Calif., Secondary Education) gave up one hit with one strikeout in a scoreless ninth inning.
The meeting with AIB was a back-and-forth affair with WPU taking the early advantage when Phiakeo singled home Sutton. AIB (23-24) scored one in the third to tie it up.
Then an Eagle error on a suicide-squeeze play gave the advantage back to the navy and gold in the fourth at 3-1. Unfortunately, the co-regular season champion bounced back with two in the fifth.
William Penn produced the possible knockout punch in the four-run seventh, though, with RBIs from Sutton, Serrano, and Kenny Hall (Sr., Morgan Hill., Calif., Exercise Science). AIB attempted to keep pace in its next at-bats, but could only come up with two tallies to make it 7-5. After giving up a two-run single to the first batter he faced out of the bullpen, Overly locked down and recorded the last four outs in order for his sixth save.
Jacob Logan (Sr., Galesburg, Ill., Psychology) collected the win by limiting the high-powered Eagle offense to just five runs (four earned) on eight hits. He struck out two and walked a pair to improve to 3-1.
Cory DeRush (Sr., Grand Junction, Colo., Business Management) led the offense with a 3-for-5 performance, while Phiakeo and Emerson were both 2-for-4. Sutton scored on two occasions and WPU held an 11-9 advantage in base knocks.
