William Penn Splits Against St. Ambrose
William Penn University Athletics
Davenport–In a key Midwest Collegiate Conference doubleheader, the Statesmen baseball team came up with a solid showing against league-leading St. Ambrose.
William Penn (13-16, 6-3 MCC) won the opener 5-1 before dropping the nightcap 5-2. The MCC is very tight at the top with St. Ambrose (17-18, 9-3 MCC) in first, but only 1 1/2 games ahead of fifth-place Mount Mercy (8-5).
The Fighting Bees took the early lead in the first game with its only run in the second, but it fortunately did not last.
Randall Packard (Sr., Forestville, Calif., Cal State-Monterey) opened the fourth with a single and eventually scored on a sacrifice-squeeze bunt by Evelio Ahumada (Sr., Hacienda Heights, Calif., Citrus CC).
Brad Chin (Sr., San Rafael, Calif., San Rafael HS) gave the visitors the lead for good in the sixth with a one-bagger that plated Nathan Wood (Jr., Tucson, Ariz., Arizona Western CC).
Later in the sixth, Ahumada doubled to bring in Chin and Packard. Stanley Muller (Sr., Tucson, Ariz., Cochise CC) concluded the scoring in the seventh by crossing home plate on a wild pitch.
Muller, Packard, and Chin all managed two hits as the Statesmen held a 9-7 advantage in base knocks.
Jorge Quezada (Jr., San Ysidro, Calif., Castle Park HS) struck out eight against just one walk in moving to 5-3. The only run he permitted in the complete game was unearned.
The navy and gold drew first blood in the nightcap when Chin singled home Muller in the first.
Unfortunately, St. Ambrose responded with five unanswered to make it 5-1 entering the seventh. Michael Crandell (Jr., Napa, Calif., Napa CC) narrowed the gap to three with a single that scored Muller in the final inning, but it was not enough to rally for the sweep.
William Penn finished on the bottom side of a 10-7 margin in hits with Muller guiding the offense with two singles.
David Ness (Sr., Purceville, Va., Frederick CC) and Danny Erece (Jr., Chula Vista, Calif., Southwestern CC) each tossed three frames with Ness (4-3) taking the loss.
Next: William Penn travels to Des Moines next Monday to face Grand View in an MCC doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
