Statesmen Get Four Wins, Capped Off with Perfect Performance

William Penn University Athletics

William Penn University Athletics

by Wade Steinlage

Joplin, Mo.–The William Penn University Baseball team returned to action after a week layoff with a pair of doubleheaders, Friday against York (Neb.) and Saturday against Lincoln (Ill.).

The Statesmen (16-3, 2-0 Heart) captured four W’s to extend their current winning streak to seven games and capped it off with a historical pitching performance.

WPU 4, YC 1

Chase Stratton (Jr., Clearfield Utah, Sports Management) got the ball in game one on the mound for WPU. It was Stratton’s first start since being named Heart of America Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week, retroactive from March 4-10. The Junior was brilliant once again, capturing his fourth win of the year, finishing with a line of 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 7 K.

York (6-10) got on the board in the bottom of the first but the Statesmen responded in the top half of the second when Anthony Huggins (So., Davenport, Fla., Biology) scored on an error by Panther first basemen, Jake Sola, tying the game 1-1.

The game remained tied until the latter innings when WPU gained the lead. A two-out rally in the fifth propelled the navy and gold when Adrian Garcia (Jr., Ontario, Calif., Mechanical Engineering) singled and was brought home a batter later on a Boston Romero (Sr., Fairfield, Calif., Sociology) double.

The Statesmen added some insurance in the sixth, plating a pair of runs on a two-RBI single off the bat of Nathan Ball (Sr., Moses Lake, Wash., Psychology).

Trent Barnett (Sr., Eddyville, Iowa, Accounting) shut the door in the seventh inning to pick up his first save of the season.

WPU 8, YC 7

The bats broke out on both sides in game two. York got on the board quickly in the top of the first, plating two runs but William Penn responded with a five spot in the bottom of the first. The Statesmen collected six hits in the inning, including three consecutive doubles, eventually chasing York starting pitcher Jason Richardson after just 0.2 innings pitched.

The Panthers didn’t go quietly however, as they plated the next three runs to tie things up in the top of the sixth. Once again, WPU responded, taking the lead in the bottom of the sixth on a batted ball of the bat of Romero, scoring Jarrett Hunt (Jr., Logan, Utah, Digital Communication) to make it 6-5.

York scored two runs in the top of the seventh to take a 7-6 lead, setting up the fireworks for the bottom half of the frame. Dominic Bravo (Jr., Downey, Calif., Digital Communication) led off the inning with a walk and came around to score a couple of batters later, on a Huggins double to tie it up at 7. York proceeded to intentionally walk Hunt to set up a possible double play but Ball would have none of it, promptly singling to left field, scoring Huggins and giving William Penn its 14th win of the season in walk-off fashion.

Stetson Denning (Fr., Queen Creek, Ariz., Sports Management) picked up the win in relief.

WPU 9, LC 3

Tanner Bedier (Fr., Bondurant, Iowa, Business Management) starting on the hill for William Penn. The freshman turned in a quality performance registering 5 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 5 K en route to his second win of the season. Augie Voight (Sr., Waukegan, Ill., Secondary Education) was excellent in relief, tossing two scoreless innings and striking out three.

WPU got on the board in the bottom of the first. Garcia walked to start the inning and was brought home on a double by Hunt. Blaze Speas (Sr., O’Fallon, Mo., Wellness and Recreation) followed with a single, scoring Hunt. The Statesmen proceeded to load the bases after a pair of singles off the bats of Seth Reisbeck (Sr., Meridian, Id., History/Government) and Ball. Bravo followed suit with a single of his own, scoring Hunt to give his team a 3-1 lead.

After tallying another run in the bottom of the second, Lincoln scored a pair of runs in the top of the third cutting the lead to 4-3. The navy and gold scored three runs in the fourth to put the game out of reach, highlighted by a RBI single for Ball. For good measure, the Statesmen added two more in the bottom of the sixth to give them the 9-3 victory.

WPU 8, LC 0

Alec Myers (Jr., Casper, Wyo., Biology) was the story in the final game or perhaps of the whole weekend as he was perfect. Meyers became the first pitcher since WPU moved to the NAIA in 2001-2002 to throw a perfect game. Maybe the most impressive part of it all is that Meyers needed only 55 pitches to do so while striking out six Lynx hitters.

The bats were solid as well, posting eight runs on 10 hits led by a trio of multi-hit performances by Ball (2-4, R, RBI), Hunt (2-3, 2B, RBI, R) and Bravo (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI). Speas also collected a pair of RBI’s.

“Alec hadn’t thrown a lot because of various injuries, etc. throughout the year. I knew he was capable after seeing him throw through the recruiting process.” said Head Coach Mike Laird, “That said, he was in total command every inning. Throwing only 55 pitches in the complete game is unheard of. He will be a tremendous boost to our pitching staff the rest of the year.”

Next Up: William Penn will resume Heart of America Athletic Conference play with a doubleheader against Mount Mercy on Wednesday in Cedar Rapids with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.

Posted by on Mar 19 2019. Filed under College Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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