Statesmen Start Conference Play Strong on the Road
Canton, Mo.– The William Penn baseball team made the trip down to Canton over the weekend as they began Heart of America Athletic Conference play against the Culver-Stockton Wildcats.
The Statesmen got a good start to their conference slate, taking three out of four versus the Wildcats. They split the first day with a 2-0 win and a 14-8 loss, then won both games on Saturday by scores of 12-5 and 11-3.
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Chase Stratton (Sr., Clearfield, Utah, Sports Management) was on the mound to begin the team’s conference slate, and he continued his momentum from his previous two starts as he held the Wildcats scoreless through three innings, retiring the first seven batters he faced before a runner reached on an error. The error proved harmless for the Statesmen, as the next two batters were set down with ease to keep the hosts off the board.
Stratton allowed his first hit in the bottom of the fourth inning, but his sixth strike out of the afternoon stranded another runner as the Statesmen bats looked to get things going to begin the fifth frame. Tanner Bedier (So., Bondurant, Iowa, Sports Management) started the inning off with a single, and Alex Fisher (Jr., Sydney, Australia, Biology) was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. Snaider Torrealba (Sr., Barquisimeto, Venezuela, Sports Management) executed the sacrifice bunt to move them both into scoring position, and Adrian Garcia (Sr., Ontario, Calif., Mechanical Engineering) cashed in with two outs to put the Statesmen on the board. Jarrett Hunt (Sr., Logan, Utah, Digital Communications) followed him up by beating out a single to the shortstop to score Fisher and make the lead 2-0.
Stratton did not need any more help for the rest of the afternoon. He struck out two more batters in the home half of the fifth and retired the side in order in the sixth. After a leadoff double to begin the seventh inning, Stratton did not allow him to move any further as the inning was punctuated by an ill-advised baserunning decision with the double being erased trying to take third on a ball in the dirt.
The victory gave Stratton his third consecutive complete game as he continued his dominant run of pitching. For his line on Friday, he finished the game with a complete game shutout, allowing only three hits and walking none while striking out 10. In his last three starts, he has thrown 21 innings allowing a single earned run, nine hits, and only one walk. In those 21 innings, he has struck out 29 batters.
The Statesmen recorded six hits for the game, with nobody in the lineup recording a multi-hit outing. Garcia and Hunt drove in the only runs of the contest, scoring Bedier and Fisher, respectively.
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The Statesmen got off to a hot start to begin the second game. Garcia led off with a walk, and Hunt singled with one out to set things up for Soren Graversen (Jr., Calgary, Alberta, Human Services), whose two-out double drove them both home. Fisher singled to drive home Graversen and give the Statesmen a quick 3-0 lead.
The Wildcats struck back in a big way, capturing a 4-3 lead after their turn to bat in the first inning. The four first inning runs started a string of 11 unanswered runs over the next three innings.
In chip away mode, the Statesmen were able to push across two runs in the fifth inning, but the Wildcats once again had an answer, scoring three of their own in the home half of the frame. The navy and gold crossed the plate three more times in the top of the sixth inning, but that was as close as they came as they dropped the second game of Friday’s action by a score of 14-8.
Tyler Gregory (Jr., Peoria Heights, Ill., Exercise Science) was saddled with the loss, dropping his record on the year to 2-1. He allowed six runs (four earned) in 1+ innings of work, allowing three hits and walking four. Stetson Denning (So., Queen Creek, Ariz., Sports Management) pitched the three following innings. He allowed five earned runs on six hits, striking out four. Ty Harter (Fr., Galesburg, Ill.) and Michael Carr (Jr., Trabuco Canyon, Calif., Sports Management) combined to throw the fifth, and Zach Edgar (Sr., Elgin, Ill., Sports Management) finished off the day with a scoreless sixth inning.
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Looking to get the bats going early, Bedier hit a one out single to begin a stretch of five consecutive Statesmen batters to reach base safely and score. Three of those runs scored off the bat of Franklin Aparicio (So., Panama City, Panama) who crushed a three-run blast with two down to give the Statesmen a 6-0 lead.
The bats stayed hot in the second inning, as Garcia worked a walk to lead off the inning. Jameson Hart (Sr., Sarnia, Ontario, Sports Management) drove him home after hustling his way to a triple, and Dominic Bravo (Sr., Downey, Calif., Digital Communications) drove a deep fly ball into right field to send Hart home.
The Wildcats hit back with one in their half of the second, but Teddy Natter (Jr., Reno, Nev., Business Management) was able to limit the damage from there. The Wildcats scored two more in the fourth and one in the fifth, the Statesmen scored two more in the sixth inning. Two more in the seventh would solidify the lead for William Penn, who took the opening Saturday contest, 12-5.
Natter earned the victory on Saturday, allowing four earned runs on five hits, two walks, and two hit batters. He struck nine Wildcats en route to improving his record to 4-0 on the season. Edgar made another appearance to close out the game, allowing an earned run in his lone inning of work.
Five Statesmen recorded multi-hit performances in the opening contest. Garcia, Bedier, and Hunt produced two hits apiece from the first three spots in the lineup, while Graversen added a 2-3 performance. Fisher led the team with a three hit day, but Aparicio did the big damage with his three run shot. Garcia and Hunt each had two RBI and two runs scored, and Bravo drove in two runs as well.
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The Statesmen kept their first inning identical to game 1, putting up another six spot to open up their last game of the weekend. Garcia, Bedier, and Hunt opened the ballgame with three straight singles, with Hunt’s of the infield variety to load the bases up for Graversen. As he’s done so often in the early goings of this season, Graversen delivered with a two-RBI single to get the Statesmen on the board. Fisher drove a triple into the gap to drive in two more runs and subsequently scored on a wild pitch. Hart added another triple to his line, and Aparicio squeezed him home to drive in the sixth run of the inning.
Brian Thomas (Fr., Shingle Springs, Calif.,) made sure momentum never shifted back in favor of the Wildcats, allowing only a single base runner in the first three innings of the game. Culver-Stockton finally broke through for a run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Statesmen got that run right back in the top half of the fifth before popping off for another three in the sixth, highlighted by an RBI triple from Graversen.
The Wildcats hit back for one each in the fifth and seventh innings, but it was not close to enough as the Statesmen took the game and the series after their 11-3 victory.
Thomas worked a strong 6+ innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks, whiffing eight batters in the process. Jacob Wiechmann (Jr., Santa Cruz, Calif., Computer Science) was summoned to slam the door in the seventh and he did so with a spotless frame.
Hunt, having already had himself a strong offensive weekend, put an exclamation point on the series with a 5-5 performance in the finale on Saturday, also scoring three runs. Bedier and Fisher each posted 2-4 lines, while Graversen finished 2-3 with a walk. Graversen and Fisher each tallied three RBI, and Aparicio added another multi-RBI game to his credit.
“It was a strong finish to the series with the sweep on Saturday,” said Head Coach Mike Laird. “Both pitchers threw great as our offense had a lot of big hits. Jarrett Hunt went 5-5 the second game as Franklin Aparicio smashed a three run bomb to left. The defense was also solid.”
What’s Next: The next time the Statesmen find themselves in action will be for their first home series of the season, as their rivals, the Grand View Vikings, will come into town for four games on March 20th and 21st. The first game on each day will begin at 1 PM.
