William Penn Denied Sweep Vs. Clarke
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa–The Statesmen baseball team returned home on Tuesday to wrap up its series with Clarke University after the teams were unable to on Sunday due to unplayable field conditions.
William Penn (19-5, 5-2 Heart) took the first pair of games over Clarke (12-13, 9-5 Heart) on Saturday and was looking for the sweep with their ace on the bump. Unfortunately, despite a strong showing their ace, the Statesmen fell in the nine-inning affair by a score of 6-4.
Chase Stratton (Jr., Clearfield, Utah, Sports Management) got the Tuesday start for the navy and gold and put up another terrific effort going 6.0 innings and allowing only one earned run and striking a season-high 13 Pride hitters.
William Penn got on the board first in the top of the third inning when Jarrett Hunt (Jr., Logan, Utah, Digital Communication) singled sharply to left field, bringing around Adrian Garcia (Jr., Ontario, Calif., Mechanical Engineering) to score. Clarke proceeded to tie things up in the bottom half of the inning, the lone run they scored on Stratton.
The Statesmen scrapped across another run in the fourth. Seth Reisbeck (Sr., Meridian, Id., History) led off the frame with a single up the middle and was moved into scoring position after a fastball ran inside and caught a piece of Dominic Bravo (Jr., Downey, Calif., Digital Communication). With runners on first and second base, Reisbeck stole third after bad throw on a pickoff attempt by the Clarke catcher. Tanner Bedier (Fr., Bondurant, Iowa, Business Management) drew a walk to load the bases and Garcia was hit by a pitch, forcing in Reisbeck from third base and giving WPU the 2-1 lead.
WPU added some insurance in the sixth inning. Bedier pushed across a run with an RBI single bringing home Cassian Castillo (Jr., San Leandro, Calif., Business Management). Garcia then promptly doubled down the left field line, easily scoring Bedier to put the ‘visiting’ squad up 4-1.
Stratton exited following the sixth inning with the lead intact, but unfortunately Clarke fought back and got to the bullpen in the bottom of the eighth putting up a five-run inning that consisted of three solo home runs.
In the ninth, the Statesmen tried to mount a comeback after a Bravo single but the rally fell short. The loss snaps a three-game win streak for WPU.
Garcia, Hunt, Reisbeck, Bravo, and Bedier all logged a hit in the contest with Garcia leading the team with a pair of RBIs and a run scored.
Next Up: The Statesmen will remain at home Saturday as they will host Culver-Stockton with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
