Statesmen Upended in First of Two Twinbills Vs. MNU
Oskaloosa–The William Penn baseball team nearly came away with an upset over a ranked foe, but faltered late as it was swept by #15 MidAmerica Nazarene in a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader Friday.
WPU (14-19, 6-12 Heart) fell by scores of 11-3 and 6-4. The sides will face off again Saturday in another Heart twinbill beginning at 1 p.m.
The hosts were outhit 12-6 in the opener, but stayed with the Pioneers for much of the opener, trailing just 5-3 entering the sixth frame. Unfortunately, MNU (26-9, 19-3 Heart) erupted for six tallies in that frame to ice the contest.
The visitors put three on the board in the first inning. The navy and gold then responded with two in the bottom half as Blair Speas (Jr., O’Fallon, Mo., New Media) scored on a wild pitch, while Froymer Ortega (Jr., Tallahassee, Fla., Wellness and Recreation) drove in Nick George (Sr., Sarina, Ontario, Sociology) on a single.
Both teams managed a run in the third, including George again touching home plate.
The Pioneers would never give up their advantage, however, tacking on one run in the fourth and closing the scoring with the aforementioned six-run sixth.
George was perfect at the plate, going 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored. Justin Martinez (Sr., Bronx, N.Y., Sports Management) added a 2-for-3 performance.
Joel Holguin (Jr., San Bernardino, Calif., Sociology) struck out five in four innings as William Penn’s starting hurler.
WPU went toe-to-toe with MidAmerica Nazarene in the nightcap, but ultimately could not match the Pioneers’ power.
The hosts jumped out to a 2-0 edge in the first of the nightcap as Martinez’s single brought in Speas, while Aiden North (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Industrial Technology) also singled to plate George.
A good chunk of MNU’s damage came via the long ball (three home runs total), including a solo shot that was part of a three-run second inning to put the Pioneers ahead 3-2.
The Statesmen answered right back in the bottom of the second as Nathan Jessell (Jr., Napa, Calif., Sociology) came around on an error, the only fielding mistake for either team. After two scoreless frames, William Penn then pulled ahead 4-3 in the fifth as Hector Dominguez (So., Fontana, Calif., Exercise Science) singled home George.
That capped the home team’s scoring, but the visitors were not finished as they tied the game in the sixth with a solo homer and took the lead for good with a two-run roundtripper in the seventh.
Speas and North each went 2-for-4, while George had one hit along with drawing three more walks. Martinez collected one base knock in addition to a base on balls. Overall, the Statesmen were outhit 9-8.
Andres Pineda (So., Cartagena, Colombia, Business Management) performed admirably in his first start of the campaign. He went the distance, giving up the six runs on nine hits, while walking two.
“Our offensive execution was awful today, including striking out way too much with runners in scoring position in the second game,” Head Coach Mike Laird said. “Our starting pitchers put us in position in both games, but we gave them away at the plate. The first five hitters in our lineup did have some hits, but unfortunately we did not have much else from the rest of the group.”
