Statesmen Falter Late Against Wildcats
Canton, Mo.–The William Penn baseball team was unable to put Culver-Stockton away as it was swept in a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader Tuesday.
WPU (15-8, 3-5 Heart) fell by scores of 7-5 and 7-6.
Justin Martinez (Jr., Bronx, N.Y., Sports Management) got things rolling for the Statesmen in the first inning with a three-run home run. The Wildcats (7-16, 2-5 Heart) finally answered, tallying two runs in the third inning against starter Stetson Denning (Sr., Queen Creek, Ariz., Sports Management) to make a 3-2 ballgame.
The navy and gold were not phased, scoring twice more in their next at-bats in the fourth. After back-to-back singles from Dillan Schrock (Sr., Shingle Springs, Calif., Sociology) and Trevor Dooley (Jr., Prole, Iowa, Computer Science), Blair Speas (So., O’Fallon, Mo., Undecided) and Franklin Aparicio (Sr., Panama City, Panama, Business Management) followed with RBI singles as the Statemen extended their advantage to 5-2.
Unfortunately, the home team got the runs back and then some as they tallied five in the bottom of the fifth inning to take and hold on to the lead.
The Statesmen had five players tally multiple hits as they finished with 13 as a team. Martinez led the way with three base knocks and three RBIs, while Aparicio finished with three hits as well in addition to an RBI. Abraham Arroyo (So., Camuy, P.R., Wellness and Recreation), Schrock, and Dooley all came away with two hits in the opener.
Denning pitched well through four frames, but could not get through the fifth as he was handed the loss. The senior struck out five batters and walked one. Matt Shover (Grad., Barry, Ill., Master’s of Sports Management) came in for the final two innings and was quite effective, permitting just two hits out of the bullpen.
Just as it did in the opener, William Penn also got in the score column first in the nightcap. After two scoreless frames, the visitors scored five times in the third. Nick George (Jr., Sarnia, Ontario, Sociology and Human Services) started it off with a single to center field to plate Tim Jean (Sr., Libertyville, Ill., Public Accounting). A few batters later, Nathan Jessell (Jr., Napa, Calif., Sociology) came through with a three-run double. Moments later, a Wildcat fielding error brought Jessell around to make it 5-0.
Culver-Stockton unfortunately quickly answered with one run in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to cut the deficit to one at 5-4. WPU took one run back in the sixth behind the bat of George whose RBI single brought in Aparicio.
The Wildcats would not go away, though, as they put two more runs on the board in the sixth to knot the bout at 6-6 heading into the seventh. The Statesmen went down in order in the top half of the seventh, while the home team had a chance to walk off after a two-out double put a runner in scoring position. Fortunately, Shover shut the door on that chance with a strikeout to send the games to extra innings.
After the first batter in extra innings was retired, Jean got things going with a single up the middle. George followed Jean with a single of his own that advanced Jean to third. The next batter struck out, but George swiped second in the process. With runners on second and third, William Penn had golden opportunity to retake the lead, but the visiting crew came up empty.
The home team then took advantage of back-to back errors by WPU to put runners on second and third. A couple batters later, a sacrifice fly helped bring home the winning run.
Jessell and George led the way for William Penn as Jessell tallied two hits with three RBIs, while George produced four hits and two RBIs. Again, the Statesmen had a good number of hitters with multiple hits in the contest (13 total).
Ty Harter (So., Galesburg, Ill.) started the game and worked four innings; he struck out five batters, but also had control issues with four walks.
Reece Umbarger (So., Overland Park, Kan., Business Management) was also solid in an inning of relief (one strikeout).
“Culver-Stockton was the better team today, plain and simple,” Head Coach Mike Laird said. “We did not make some normal defensive plays which costed us in both games. Kudos to their closer who finished both games and dominated most of our hitters.”
Next Up: The Statesmen will return to Oskaloosa Saturday to face off against Grand View in a Heart doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
