IW baseball drops four straight

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The Iowa Wesleyan baseball team hit the road over the weekend to play a series against the Mid-America Christian University Evangels.

It was a tough outing for the Tigers as they fell in four straight games, 4-3, 6-2, 8-4 and 4-2.

In game one, Luis Ayesa took the mound for the Tigers.

In the bottom of the 1st inning, after a groundout, the Evangels got hot.

After a pair of singles, a home run by the Evangels gave them an early 3-0 lead.

They eventually loaded the bases, but the Tigers got out of the jam.

In the top of the second, the Tigers were able to get some points on the board.

Philip Guerrero scored Froymer Ortega on a single to make it a 3-1 game.

In the top of the 3rd inning, Carlos Vicente led the inning off with a walk for the Tigers. After a fly out, Julian Figueroa took a ball over the left field fence to cut the Evangel lead to 4-3.

Over the course of the rest of the game, both pitchers settled in keeping the score at 4-3.

Kelton Lachelt, came in the relief in the top of the 7th for the Evangels and closed out the game 1-2-3 to defeat the Tigers in game one of the four game series, 4-3.

The Tigers finished the game with three runs on three hits and three walks. Luis Ayesa registered the loss with four runs given up, three of them earned, three walks, and four strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched.

In game two, the Tigers put Cauy Massner on the mound.

Iowa Wesleyan was able to give its pitcher some run support before he stepped on the hill.

In the top of the 1st inning, Julian Figueroa singled to right field, scoring Carlos Vicente who singled earlier in the inning.

The very next batter, Holvin Catala, hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Riley Rankin, who reached on a single earlier in the inning. The Tigers headed into the bottom of the 1st inning up 2-0.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning, the Evangels got on the board with an RBI single to center. Tigers' lead moved to 2-1.

The Tigers in innings two through four struggled to get the bats going, leaving several runners on base.

In the bottom of the 5th inning, the Evangels' got their bats going, scoring a pair of runs on an RBI double and single to make it 3-2

The Tigers brought in Pedro Ramirez to relief Massner.

The bats stayed hot for the Evangels, as they followed with two more runs to make it 5-2 heading into the 6th.

After the Tigers failed to score, the Evangels added one another in their half of the sixth to make it 6-2.

The Tigers were able to get two on base in the top of the 7th inning but were unable to produce any runs as they fell 6-2.

Cauy Massner was registered with the loss for the Tigers after pitching 4.1 innings and giving up five earned runs on nine hits and two walks.

Massner struck out four in the process. Pedro Ramirez pitched 0.2 innings and gave up one hit and had one strikeout. Ian Clements pitched one inning for the Tigers and gave up one earned run on one hit, one walk and struck out two Evangel batters. The Tigers scored their two runs on seven hits.

In game three, the Tigers had Jackson Van Roekel on the mound.

The Evangels struck first with a big bottom of the 2nd inning, quickly making it 3-0 on an RBI single and a two RBI single.

The Tigers tied the game back up in the top of the 3rd inning. Grant Yates singled up the middle to score Froymer Ortega. Carlos Vicente, with one out, singled past the shortstop to score Yates. Julian Figueroa would then hit a two-out single to center field to score David Amaya and tie the game at 3-3.

The lead was short lived though as the Evangels made it 5-3 on an RBI groundout and an error.

In the top of the 6th inning, the Tigers scored again off the bat of Grant Yates who singled to left field, scoring Holvin Catala and cutting the lead to one, 5-4.

The Tigers would then stall and the Evangels would get out of the jam.

Mid America took control in the sixth as it dropped in three runs on a wild pitch, a sac fly and an RBI single, making it 8-4.

The Tigers would get a one-out single from Sage Bonner in the top of the 7th, but the game would end with the Tigers hitting into a double play to lose by a final score of 8-4 to the Evangels in game three of the series.

Jackson Van Roekel was registered with the loss for the Tigers after he pitched five innings and gave up eight runs, six earned runs, on six hits and two walks with one strikeout. The Tigers scored four runs on 12 hits in the game.

Joey Withers got the nod in the final game of the series for the Tigers.

In the bottom of the 1st inning, the Evangels would immediately strike and get a run against Withers as an RBI single put them up 1-0.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning, the Evangels added another run on an RBI groundout to third.

The Tigers were able to tie the score back up in the top of the 4th inning.

Julian Figueroa flew out to center field, and Carlos Vicente would tag up from third and score. Later in the inning, Sage Bonner singled down the right field line to score pinch runner Zach Graham and knot the game 2-2.

With Pedro Ramirez now in the game pitching for the Tigers, the Evangels scored twice, both with two outs.

A wild pitch scored one and a solo home run the other as the Evangels pushed the game to 4-2.

The Tigers failed to score runs in the top of the 7th and fall in the game 4-2, losing all four games in the weekend series.

The Tigers would score two runs on seven hits. Joey Withers registered the loss for the Tigers with five innings pitched. He gave up three runs and four hits while striking out four Evangel batters.

The Tigers fall to 3-4 on the season with the losses.

Iowa Wesleyan will be back in action in Salina, Kansas as they play a three-game series against Kansas Wesleyan University on Feb. 25 and 26.