William Penn Swept to Start Weekend Series Against C-SC
William Penn University Athletics
Oskaloosa–The Statesmen baseball squad failed to produce enough offense to tally a victory Saturday as it was swept in a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader by Culver-Stockton.
WPU (15-16, 4-10 Heart) lost by scores of 3-2 and 8-3. The teams will conclude their four-game set Sunday with another twinbill beginning at 1 p.m.
The opener was a treat for the baseball purist as the sides combined for just five runs on 13 hits and committed only one error.
No runs were posted in the first three frames as William Penn starting pitcher Nick Seipel (Jr., Rosemont, Minn., Software Engineering) and his counterpart were rolling.
Unfortunately, the Wildcats (16-16, 6-8 Heart) finally broke the scoreless tie with two runs in the fourth. The navy and gold managed to cut the deficit in half in the bottom half when Fabian Gutierrez (Jr., Selah, Wash., Communications) singled in Anthony Aguila (Jr., Highland, Calif., Kinesiology).
C-SC went back up by two runs in the next half inning. The hosts gave the visitors a fight with a run in the bottom of the fifth on a single by Julian Villegas (Jr., Wilmington, Calif., Sociology), but WPU grounded into a double play to end the frame.
The Statesmen could not finish off the rally, though, in dropping the one-run contest. Five different batters finished with one hit each.
Seipel struck out four batters (no walks) in his complete-game effort. Only two of the runs he allowed were earned.
The Statesmen got off to a nice start in the latter outing as Jeysen Delgado (Jr., Harbor City, Calif., Kinesiology) scored on a sacrifice fly by Cory Russell (Sr., El Cajon, Calif., Education) in the first inning.
That, however, is where the well of positives ran dry. Culver-Stockton tied the matchup at 1-1 in the third and then added six more unanswered runs until WPU broke the streak with two marks in the sixth. In that inning, Gutierrez touched home plate on a single by T.J. Murphy (Jr., Woodenville, Wash., Exercise Science) and Villegas drove in Jared Goodman (Jr., Huntington Beach, Calif., Physical Education) on a bases-loaded walk.
Villegas had a base knock and walked twice, while the Statesmen were outhit 11-6 in the setback.
