WPU Drops Pair Against Graceland
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa—The William Penn University baseball team (8-13, 1-5 Heart) dropped a couple of tough Heart of America Conference games on Saturday as they took on the Graceland Yellowjackets (8-10, 2-4 Heart).
Both games were pitchers’ duels and went down to the wire, but unfortunately for the Statesmen they were unable to get the bats going.
Graceland 2, WPU 1
After going down by a run in the first inning, WPU tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when Fabio Espinosa (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Wellness and Rec.) doubled to deep left field which scored Jared Goodman (Sr., Huntington Beach, Calif., Physical Education).
The yellowjackets came back in the top of the sixth to score a run on a single to which the Statesmen would have no answer for in the sixth or seventh.
D.J. Milam (Sr., Lancaster, Calif., Business Management) battled and gave a great outing by going seven innings while only surrendering two runs and striking out six but ultimately took the loss.
Goodman and Espinosa each finished 1-3 while Seth Reisbeck (Jr., Meridian, Idaho, History/Government) and Philip Berman (Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Education) each tallied a hit.
The visitors outhit the Statesmen 9-4.
Graceland 3, WPU 1
Nick Seipel (Sr., Rosemont, Minn., software engineering) tossed six quality innings for the Statesmen allowing three runs (two earned) while striking out six. Unfortunately for the Statesmen, the Yellowjackets pitching was too much as they could only muster one run on four hits.
The lone run for WPU scored in the bottom of the third as Nick Worcester (So., Bloomington, Ill., Physical Education) on a ground ball hit by Julian Villegas (Sr., Wilmington, Calif., Sociology).
The game ended in controversy as Villegas was called out by the umpire to end the game for making contact with a ball while out of the batters’ box, Villegas would have been the go-ahead run.
Worcester finished the game going 2-2, while Reisbeck and Nathan Ball (Jr., Moses Lake, Wash., Psychology) each contributed a hit.
The two teams will play a doubleheader tomorrow to finish the series starting at 1 p.m. in Oskaloosa.
