IW baseball team picks up home split

The ball was flying out of the ballpark at Mapleleaf Athletic Complex on Wednesday. Iowa Wesleyan and Blackburn combined for eight homeruns over two games, with IW taking game one, 5-3, and Blackburn winning game two, 13-6.

Blackburn's Michell Binder began the scoring in game one with a solo homerun in the second inning, but that was the only run Iowa Wesleyan starter Joe Morrison gave up over the first six innings.

The Tigers took the lead in the bottom of the third inning. Nick Salas scored on an error after a Minami Matsumoto hit to tie the game. Jack De Burgh put IW up 2-1 with an RBI-double later in the inning.

Dominic Gerace had the biggest hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. He smashed a three-run homer to left field, stretching the Tiger lead to 5-1.

Blackburn cut the lead down to 5-3 with a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the seventh, but Morrison got the next batter to pop out and IW took game one.

'Joe-Mo has been good all year for us,” said head coach Blake Beaber about game one. 'Every time he's on the mound, we feel like we have a chance to win. He comes out and throws strikes, and attacks the zone. We had good defense behind him, and we were able to come up with a few big hits, and take one from them.”

Gerace went 2-4 with three RBIs and a run scored to lead IW offensively. Matsumoto, De Burgh and Chazz Brown each had two hits in the win.

Morrison threw all seven innings, giving up three earned runs on five hits and one walk, while striking out six batters to get the victory.

The score was tied through two innings in game two. Blackburn scored on an error in the first inning but Tavaras Williams tied the game with an RBI-double in the second.

Blackburn's Ryan Steen bombed a grand slam to left field in the third inning to give Blackburn a 5-1 lead. The Beavers scored one more run in the third and it was 6-1 Blackburn after three.

Blackburn ran their lead all the way up to 9-1 with three more runs in the fourth inning, getting a three-RBI double from Steen. Brown hit a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth, but it was 9-2 after four innings.

The Beavers scored one run in the top of the fifth, but IW cut the lead with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning. Parker Leland hit a solo homer to left, and Salas scored a run on an RBI-single, making it 10-4.

Steen burned the Tigers again in the top of the sixth, hitting another solo homer for his eighth RBI of the game. That was one of two runs scored by Blackburn in the top of the sixth, but Leland got both runs back with a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth, his second home run of the game, making it 12-6.

Blackburn scored one more run in the top of the eighth inning. IW went scoreless during the last three innings and had to settle for a split.

'It's tough to pitch in this weather, but we've just got to keep the ball down and keep it in the strike zone,” said Coach Beaber about game two. 'Looking back, a lot of those baserunners are on because we didn't pick up the ball and throw it to first base, or we walked them or hit the batter.”

Leland finished the game 2-4 with two homers and three RBIs and two runs scored to lead the offense in game two. Brown was 2-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, and Williams finished 3-4 with an RBI.

Clayton Lathen was tagged with the loss in game two. He threw 3.2 innings and gave up nine runs (seven earned) on five hits and three walks, while striking out five batters.

IW moved to 5-19-1 overall this year and 3-9 in conference play. They'll head to Sauget, Ill., for a three-game set with Webster University this weekend, with the first game starting at 7 p.m., on Friday, April 12.