William Penn Starts Heart Tourney with Win Over Peru State
Ozark, Mo.–The Statesmen baseball team remained on the winner’s side of the bracket Thursday as it held off #7 seed Peru State 5-4 in the opening game of the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship.
#8 seed WPU (23-25), which will now face #2 seed MidAmerica Nazarene Friday at 1:30 p.m., matched the Bobcats (19-30) with 12 hits apiece.
Four of those base knocks came in the second frame. After a scoreless first inning, the navy and gold got on the board first, doing all of its damage with two outs already recorded. Aiden North (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Industrial Technology) started the two-out rally with a single.
Blair Speas (Jr., O’Fallon, Mo., New Media) then pinch-ran for him and was moved to third on a one-bagger by Froymer Ortega (Jr., Tallahassee, Fla., Wellness and Recreation). Speas eventually came home via a single from Marco Ayala (So., San Francisco, Calif., New Media), while Ortega completed his trip around the pads on a single by Nathan Jessell (Jr., Napa, Calif., Sociology).
All of William Penn’s 12 hits were singles, including the quartet in the third inning that helped the squad double its advantage to 4-0. Justin Martinez (Sr., Bronx, N.Y., Sports Management) drove in Nick George (Sr., Sarina, Ontario, Sociology), while Abraham Arroyo (Jr., Camuy, P.R., Wellness and Recreation) bounded home on North’s batted ball.
PSC responded in the bottom of the third with two runs against starting pitcher Brian Thomas (Sr., Shingle Springs, Calif., Sports Management). The senior hurler worked 7 1/3 innings, permitting four runs on 10 scattered hits. He struck out four and walked one in obtaining the victory.
George’s RBI single in the sixth plated Ayala to make it 5-2, but again, the Bobcats managed an answer in the bottom half to trim the margin to two. Peru State then capped the game’s scoring in the seventh with one more run.
The Bobcats had the winning run a mere 90 feet away at third base with just one out in the eighth inning, but Zach Otten (Jr., Mapleton, Ill.) denied them. The junior caught a fly ball in center field and then launched a throw to home plate where North applied the tag on the runner coming down the baseline, completing the double play.
Abel Madueno (Jr., San Bernardino, Calif., Business Management) permitted a pair of hits in the ninth, but PSC ran itself into an out and then stranded its other tying run at first to finish the game.
Madueno earned the save with 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
The quartet of George, North, Ortega, and Jessell all ended up two hits in the victory. Overall, eight Statesmen recorded a base knock.
“This was a great win over a solid Peru State team with speed,” Head Coach Mike Laird said. “Strong defense and pitching were the keys. We hit enough to win, including several guys contributing with timely singles.”
