Statesmen Open Series with Pair of Losses to Pride
Peosta–The William Penn baseball team dropped the first two games of its weekend series against Clark in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Friday.
The Statesmen (21-16, 9-13 Heart) fell by scores of 11-8 and 10-3.
CU got on the board first in the opener, putting up one run in both the first and second innings. WPU responded in the top of the third inning as Leland Riley II (Fr., Victorville, Calif., Kinesiology) singled and was eventually brought into score off an RBI triple from Franklin Aparicio (Sr., Panama City, Panama, Business Management). Aparicio then scored off a groundball out to tie the game at 2-2.
The home team regained its advantage in the bottom half of the third inning, scoring four runs to take a 6-2 lead. The navy and gold returned the favor in the fourth inning with a three-run home run off the bat of Joel Holguin (So., San Bernardino, Calif., Sociology). WPU then added three more runs in the fifth inning. Aparicio got the inning started with a solo homer, followed by a two-run double to left field by Abraham Arroyo (So., Camuy, P.R., Wellness and Recreation) as the Statesmen took an 8-6 advantage.
Unfortunately, the Pride tallied five runs in the sixth inning, including three off a roundtripper, to take an 11-8 edge into the seventh inning, and William Penn was not able to rally back.
Aparicio led the way for the Statesmen by going 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Arroyo had two base knocks in the contest with two RBIs, while Holguin finished with three RBIs.
Brian Thomas (Jr., Shingle Springs, Calif., Sports Management) was the only pitcher to see the mound in game one, striking out seven batters in the matchup.
The Statesmen scored first in the nightcap behind a first-inning RBI single from Arroyo which brought Jean around to score; Jean had singled and stole second. CU responded in the bottom half of the inning with a run of its own to tie things at 1-1.
Nathan Jessell (Jr., Napa, Calif., Sociology) led off the second frame with a double before Blair Speas (So., O’Fallon, Mo., Undecided) came through with a single to left field to score his teammate. The lead for WPU did not last long, though, as the home team put up seven runs in the bottom of the second to take an 8-2 lead.
After two scoreless innings, the navy and gold pushed a run across in the fifth as Nick George (Jr., Sarina, Ontario, Sociology) came home on a sacrifice fly by Holguin. Clarke tallied two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to close the door on the Statesmen.
Arroyo and Speas both finished the contest with two hits and an RBI, while four other Statesmen finished with hits as well.
Bret Whiffen (Jr., Green Bay, Wis., Exercise Science) came on in relief and pitched 4 1/3 strong innings, permitting just two runs on three hits with two strikeouts.
“Unfortunately, we issued 10 walks and had trouble staying ahead in the count,” Head Coach Mike Laird said. “Clarke’s hitters took advantage of that in addition to several errors which allowed them to have big innings in each game. We hit well enough to win, but needed to play cleaner to beat a team like Clarke.”
Next Up: The Statesmen will remain in Peosta Saturday to finish their four-game set with the Pride with a doubleheader at 11 a.m.
