Statesmen Streak Snapped by Eagles
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa—The Statesmen entered Saturday with on a six game win streak but were looking for whole lot more than that against the Eagles as a pair of wins would solidify them as the Heart of America Athletic Conference regular season champions
Unfortunately, William Penn (31-9, 16-5 Heart) was cooled off by the visiting Central Methodist (30-10, 17-6 Heart), dropping both games of the doubleheader, 4-1 and 10-3
CMU 4, WPU 1
Chase Stratton (Jr., Clearfield, Utah, Sports Management) was on the mound for the Statesmen in game one. The junior did not have his best stuff but managed to put together a good outing, lasting six innings while allowing only two earned runs and striking out six Eagles.
The bats were held in check by Central Methodist as they were only able to scratch out one run on four hits. The lone run did not come until the seventh inning when Blaze Speas (Sr., O’Fallon, Mo., Wellness and Recreation) singled home Jarrett Hunt (Jr., Logan, Utah, Digital Communications). Both Hunt and Speas finished with a pair of knocks to combine for only hits for the home team.
Nick Bruns (Sr., Frankfort, Ill., Sports Management) pitched a scoreless inning in relief striking out one hitter.
CMU 10, WPU 3
The navy and gold went into game two looking for retribution but the Eagles bats turned out to be too much. Alec Myers (Jr., Casper, Wyo., Biology) toed the slab for William Penn and lasted just 4.2 innings while allowing six earned runs. The defense behind Myers didn’t help matters, committing four errors. Augie Voight (Sr., Waukegan, Ill., Secondary Education) tossed two solid scoreless innings in relief while striking out a pair of batters.
WPU was able to get on the board first in the bottom of the first inning. After Hunt and Seth Reisbeck (Sr., Meridian, Id., History/Government) singled with two outs, Speas followed suit with his second RBI single of the afternoon to put his team up 1-0.
The Eagles tied the ball game in the third inning in what was shaping up to be a great pitchers duel but the Statesmen pitching staff surrendered a combined nine runs across the fourth and fifth innings to put the game out of reach.
William Penn tried to crawl back, scoring a run in the fourth courtesy of a Nathan Ball (Sr., Moses Lake, Wash., Sociology) RBI double and one in the fifth with a solo home run by Tanner Bedier (Fr., Bondurant, Iowa, Business Management) but it would not be enough to ignite a comeback.
Before the ballgame William Penn honored its senior class recognizing them for senior day. Those seniors included Nick Worcester (Sr., Bloomingdale, Ill., Sports Management), Reisbeck, Voight, Boston Romero (Sr., Fairfield, Calif., Sociology), Bruns, Ball, Trent Barnett (Sr., Eddyville, Iowa, Accounting), and Jimmy Blake (Sr., Seffner, Fla., Sports Management).
Next Up: The Statesmen will take on the rival Grand View Vikings on Thursday in the final series of the season with first pitch scheduled for 5 pm.
