William Penn Completes Sweep of Graceland
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Lamoni–The William Penn University Baseball team was headed into Sunday look to complete its second consecutive Heart of America Athletic Conference sweep on Sunday as they clashed with Graceland.
The Statesmen (29-7, 14-3 Heart) defeated the Yellowjackets (6-24, 3-18 Heart) 9-7, completing the sweep. The win also keeps WPU’s lead atop the Heart of America Athletic Conference secure.
William Penn has been a team that tends to strike early and often. This game proved to be no different as they got on the board early in the top of the second. Three consecutive singles loaded the bases for the navy and gold to begin the inning. Jimmy Blake (Sr., Seffner, Fla., Sports Management) strolled to the plate and worked himself a walk to grab the 1-0 lead. Following Blake, Boston Romero (Sr., Fairfield, Calif., Sociology) was able to earn a walk of his own to push the lead to 2-0.
Lionel Colon (Jr., Vieques, P.R., Business Management) got the ball on the bump for game three. The Puerto Rican native did not have his best outing but managed to battle and hold the Yellowjackets to four runs on five hits while striking out four. Colon exited after the fourth with the game knotted at 4-4-4.
After falling behind 5-4 in the fifth, the Statesmen bats finally responded in the seventh. With one down in the inning, Jarrett Hunt (Jr., Logan, Utah, Digital Communication) worked a walk followed by Seth Reisbeck (Sr., Meridian, Id., History/Government) who was hit by a pitch. After a Nathan Ball (Sr., Moses Lake, Wash., Psychology) single that loaded up the bases, Dominic Bravo (Jr., Downey, Calif., Digital Communication) hit a sacrifice fly to center field. The big blow of the inning came off the bat of Blake who scored two on his double to deep left-center field.
Leading 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh, the pesky Yellowjackets managed to crawl back and tie the game at 6-6.
Graceland pitching once again had command issues, walking the bases loaded and WPU took advantage on a fielder’s choice and RBI off the bat the Reisbeck to regain the lead 7-6.
For good measure, William Penn added some insurance in the top of the ninth frame on a two-RBI single courtesy of Speas, to help secure the 9-7 win. The pair of RBI’s gives him a team-high of 44 on the season.
Ball, Bravo, and Romero each logged multi-hit afternoons Ball finished 2-5, Bravo went 2-3, and Romero was 2-4. Blake continue his hot streak, going 1-3 with that double and three RBI’s.
Next Up: William Penn will travel to Marshall, Mo., to take on Missouri Valley on Friday with first pitch scheduled for 1 pm.
