Iowa Wesleyan baseball returns home

MT. PLEASANT — The Iowa Wesleyan baseball team played 28 games in a row before finally getting the chance to play in front of its own home fans, but that opportunity finally came to be this weekend.

The Tigers played four games against College of the Ozarks, all at Mapleleaf Athletic Complex in Mt. Pleasant. The Tigers split games on both Friday and Saturday.

Iowa Wesleyan won the opener on both days. On Friday, the Tigers took Game 1, 5-2, before losing Game 2, 4-9. On Saturday, they won 10-6 before losing 5-4.

Iowa Wesleyan had to storm back from 2-0 deficit to win the first game on Friday. The Tigers ended the game on a 5-0 run, led by Riley Rankin who went a perfect 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Cauy Massner pitched a gem in the series opener, giving up just two runs (one earned) on five hits over a complete-game seven innings. He struck out six batters to earn the victory.

Iowa Wesleyan held a 4-0 lead through five frames in the second game. Gabriel Hernandez delivered an RBI single in the fifth, and Corbin Broeker knocked one in and scored on a wild pitch to cap off the run. The Tigers, however, couldn’t hold on to the lead.

College of the Ozarks cut the lead to 4-2 with a two-run sixth inning and then erupted for seven runs in the top of the ninth to steal the second game and end the day at 1-1.

Despite the loss, Jackson Van Roekel had a nice outing, giving up two runs (one earned) over six innings on the mound.

The Tigers rattled the bats on Saturday afternoon, scoring 9 of their 10 runs in the first four innings of a 10-6 victory. Rankin went 2-for-3 with two RBIs in that game. Hernandez knocked in a pair of runs and Broeker scored three times.

“Scoring runs isn’t really our problem,” said Iowa Wesleyan head coach Blake Beaber. “We always come up with four or five runs a game, and sometimes more, Hitting in this weather is hard, and we executed our offense.”

Javier Rivera gave up just one earned run in Saturday’s opener to pick up the victory on the mound. The Tiger defense did allow five unearned.

Iowa Wesleyan put together a late rally in the fourth game of the weekend, battling back from 5-1 down to cut the lead to 5-4 with a three-run sixth. The Tigers couldn’t keep it going in the seventh, having to settle for a series split.

“They threw a soft lefty at us, and we couldn’t make the adjustment,” Beaber said. “We didn’t really make an adjustment until the fifth inning.”

Froymer Ortega and David Amaya each had two hits and an RBI to lead the Tigers in the final game. Luis Ayesa was tagged with the loss on the mound, giving up five runs (four earned) through 5.1 innings.

The Tigers (10-22, 2-2) will now play five-straight road games to begin early April. In all, the Tigers are scheduled for 46 road games and just seven in Mt. Pleasant.

“The schedule we play is tough,” Beaber said. “We’re always on the road, and we’re always sleeping in hotels. It’s nice to wake up in your own bed.”