WPU Collects Two Against League Leaders
William Penn University Athletics
Oskaloosa–Two strong pitching performances and a pair of big offensive innings guided the Statesmen baseball team past Heart of America Athletic Conference foe Culver-Stockton on a blustery Saturday afternoon.
The Statesmen (16-9, 7-5 Heart) won by scores of 2-1 and 5-0. The teams will meet up in a second twinbill Sunday at noon.
After three scoreless innings to open the day, the Wildcats (13-19, 7-5 Heart) put their first and only run across in the top of the fourth.
Courtesy of two errors, the hosts answered right back in the bottom half. Robert Phiakeo (Sr., San Diego, Calif., Business Management) reached on one mistake and later scored on a single by Dominik Sawyer (Jr., Chula Vista, Calif., Psychology and Human Services). William Vazquez (Jr., North Hollywood, Calif., General Accounting) also touched the final pad on another single by J.P. Rios (Sr., San Diego, Calif., Business Management).
Logan Overly (Sr., Oakley, Calif., Secondary Education) then took over, retiring the final nine batters he faced to improve to 3-1 with the complete game win. He struck out four without a walk; the only run he allowed was unearned.
Sawyer and Javier Gonzalez (Jr., Lakeside, Calif., Physical Education) both managed two hits as the navy and gold owned a 6-3 edge in hits. The Statesmen overcame four errors (C-SC had three fielding mistakes).
Culver-Stockton had several chances in the opening frames of the nightcap, but Tyler Martinez (Sr., San Diego, Calif., Sociology) fought through each and every jam.
Finally, with the contest still scoreless in the bottom of the sixth and WPU hitless to that point, the hosts struck right away as Johnny Valdez (Jr., San Jacinto, Calif., Business Management) led off with a triple.
The junior scored three batters later on a single via Colton Johnson (Jr., Westminster, Calif., Physical Education). Phiakeo added another single to plate Johnson and Daniel Macias (Jr., Chula Vista, Calif., Physical Education), while Gonzalez doubled in Phiakeo and pinchrunner Tevin Nishiyama (Sr., Honolulu, Hawaii, Physical Education) to cap the five-run inning.
William Penn managed to claim the victory despite a pair of errors and being outhit 5-4.
Martinez had a finish similar to his teammate’s in the first game, sitting down the final 10 batters he went up against. The senior (2-1) struck out two with one walk in a five-hit shutout.
