IW baseball falls in final spring break game

By Andy Krutsinger, Mt. Pleasant News

AUBURNDALE, Fla. ? The Iowa Wesleyan baseball team finished off their spring break trip in Florida on Friday. The Tigers struggled to contain an offensive explosion from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, falling 20-3.

RPI scored runs in each of the first four innings to jump out to a commanding lead early. The Tiger defense gave up four runs in the first inning, three in the second, four in the third and one int he fourth, giving RPI a 12-0 lead midway through the game.

RPI stretched that advantage to 15-0 in the top of the sixth inning with three more runs, but the Tigers were able to save face a bit with three runs over their next two frames.

IW broke their scoreless streak with an RBI single from Tyler Cooksey in the sixth inning. Joseph Belarde gave the Tigers a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and Benjamine Steorts brought a third run home on an RBI fielder?s choice.

RPI was able to add to their lead in the ninth inning, tacking on five runs.

Cooksey led the offense in the loss, finishing 2-4 with one RBI. Joshua Sanchez went 1-2. Matthew Murphy went 1-3 with a run scored, and both Michael Rojas and Alex Payne collected one hit.

Six different Tigers pitched for IW. Cody Brown was tagged with the loss, giving up four earned runs on two hits and four walks over one inning of work. Minami Matsumoto threw the most frames, going three innings and giving up four earned runs on four hits and four walks, while striking out one batter.

The only Tiger pitcher to finish the day unbelmished was William Hlady. He threw 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up no hits and just one walk.

The IW baseball team sits at 6-7 heading into their first conference games. They?ll be in Carlinville, Ill. on Tuesday, March 20, when they take on Blackburn College in a doubleheader. Those games are set to begin at 1 p.m.