IW baseball team drops home pair

For the first time all spring, the Iowa Wesleyan baseball team took the field at Mapleleaf in Mt. Pleasant on Wednesday afternoon. The Tigers struggled in the field during their home debut, which led to a couple of losses. Greenville took game one 7-3 and won game two 9-5.

After a couple of scoreless innings in game one, Greenville got on the board with a two-RBI double in the third inning. Greenville's Andrew Torbeck brought two home on the double, and Tucker Rappe knocked home one on a sacrifice fly. IW failed to score in the bottom of the third and it was 3-0 Greenville after three.

The Panthers tacked on another run in the top of the fifth when Rappe singled in a run. IW responded with two in the bottom half of the inning when Michael Rojas send a bases-loaded two-RBI single into center field. After five, the Tigers trailed 4-2.

Greenville put up three runs in the top of the third. Leadoff man Ryan Taylor brought home two with a fielder's choice, one of which scored on an error. Adam Lamb followed with an RBI single to left field to stretch the lead to 7-2.

IW scored just one more run in game one. Jack De Burgh hit an RBI single into left field to cut the lead to four runs in the bottom of the sixth.

De Burgh went 2-2 with an RBI in the loss. Rojas finished 1-2 with two RBIs. Minami Matsumoto, Nick Salas, Jacob Leonard and Dominic Gerace each had a hit. All Tiger hits were singles.

Everett Swinson started the game for IW and threw five innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on five hits and two walks, while striking out three batters. William Hlady threw two innings and gave up two earned runs on three hits and one walk, while striking out two.

Game two started off much better for IW. Joe Morrison threw four strong shutout innings and the Tigers sprinkled in three runs over that time frame.

Tavares Williams brought home the first run on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the first inning. Chazz Brown knocked in another on an RBI-single down the left field line to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead after one inning. Leonard scored on a wild pitch in the third inning to put the Tigers up 3-0.

Greenville got back into the game on a couple of unearned runs in the fifth. Greenville scored two unearned runs on a two-out error in the outfield, which came on a line drive by Sam Hodges.

IW still led 3-2 until the top of the seventh, when things began to unravel. Torbeck tied the game up with an RBI single up the middle. Matthew Schroeder gave Greenville the lead on a safety squeeze play that turned into an out at first. Greenville scored two more unearned runs after another error in the outfield, plating one on the error and one on a Devin Gumb two-out double.

Greenville scored three more in the top of the ninth. Gumb brought one home on an RBI-single, and two Panthers crossed on errors, one on a missed flyball and one on a passed ball.

IW trailed 9-3 going into the bottom of the ninth. They put the pressure on by loading the bases with one out. Domi Gerace plated one on an RBI single and Matsumoto knocked in a run on an RBI-fielder's choice, but IW was stopped four runs short of the lead.

'Joe Morrison came out and pitched well. He's been battling the flu, so he couldn't go too long,” said head coach Blake Beaber after the second game. 'We just have to play defense. Our pitchers are getting outs. We just need to make plays.”

Morrison finished the day giving up just one run, an unearned score in the fifth. He gave up five hits and three walks in just over four innings of work. Mitchell Wilcox gave up another earned run on one hit and three walks over 1.2 innings, striking out three along the way. Hlady came in for one batter and got him out.

Cullen Papenhagen gave up four runs (two earned) on three hits and one walk, while striking out two batters. Brandon Devillier gave up three runs (two earned) on two hits and one walk, while striking out two as well.

Leonard was 3-5 with two runs scored to lead IW in game two. Salas, Rojas and Gerace each tallied two hits. Matsumoto had a triple in the loss and both Leonard and Salas had a double.

IW actually out-hit Greenville 13-11 in game two, and 20-19 overall. The Tigers struggled with runners in scoring position, something Beaber says the team has done all year.

'We had opportunities all day long. We just couldn't get the job done,” Beaber said. 'That's kind of the way we've been on offense. We give ourselves opportunities and can't get it done.”

IW fell to 2-10-1 overall this season and started SLIAC play 0-2. They'll have the chance to improve on both of those marks on Saturday, March 23, when they head to Principia College for a road doubleheader.