Iowa Wesleyan walked off at Graceland

LACONA — Chase Stadium in Lacona saw 29 runs cross the plate over nine innings of action when Iowa Wesleyan played Graceland in a road game on Tuesday. Unfortunately for the visitors, the Tigers came up one run short.

Graceland rallied back from an eight-run deficit in its final four at-bats to stun the Tigers in a slugfest, 15-14.

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Everything looked good early, as the Tigers broke a 0-0 tie with a five-run third inning. Iowa Wesleyan loaded the bases with two outs, scored one on a hit-by-pitch taken by Holvin Catala, and then seemingly busted it open when Grant Yates launched a grand slam into the atmosphere to give the Tigers a 5-0 lead.

Graceland came back to score four runs in the third inning, and then eventually tied the game up at 6-6 in the fifth.

All knotted up in the sixth inning, it was time for the Tigers to go back to work. Iowa Wesleyan plated eight runs in the top of the sixth, highlighted by a two-run single off the bat of Sage Bonner.

The Tigers’ lead was 14-6 going into the bottom of the sixth, but Graceland wouldn’t stay down. The Yellowjackets scored three runs in the sixth, one in the seventh, three in the eighth and two in the ninth to steal the win.

The game-winning hit came with two outs and two on. Graceland had just tied the game on a sacrifice fly, and won it on an RBI single through the left side.

Bonner finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Yates went 2-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs. Froymer Ortega and Catala each had two RBIs.

The Tigers had five pitchers throw. Joey Withers started the game and gave up four runs (three earned) over four innings, while striking out four batters. Tavares Tim took the loss on the mound, giving up two earned runs.

Iowa Wesleyan is now 13-18 overall. The Tigers will take a 3-5 Continental Athletic Conference record into a four-game series at Bacone College this weekend.