IW baseball wins pair in quad

Iowa Wesleyan’s Sage Bonner (pictured) and the Tigers picked a pair of wins, along with a pair of losses against Fisher College and Georgia Gwinnett College. (Andy Krutsinger/The Union)

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — The Iowa Wesleyan baseball team had an up and down weekend, picking up a pair of wins along with two losses in a quartet of Continental Athletic Conference (CAC) matchups.

The Tigers defeated Fisher for the two wins, 4-3 and 21-11, while falling to Georgia Gwinnett 18-1 and 13-3 in the losses.

In the opening game against Fisher, the Falcons scored two runs in the first inning, but the Tigers were able to answer back.

The Tigers followed up by scoring one run in four straight innings, capped off by a Sage Bonner single and a throwing error which scored Froymer Ortega of third.

Fisher added one run in the fifth as well, but the Tigers were able to hang on for the one run victory.

Ortega went 3-3 in the game and scored two runs for the Tigers. Bonner picked up two hits. Cauy Massner threw a complete game giving up three runs on six hits with nine strikeouts.

In the second game against the Grizzlies of Georgia Gwinnett, it was a tough outing as the Grizzlies scored at least one run in six straight innings.

Gwinnett started out by scoring six runs in the first inning.

Iowa Wesleyan scored its lone run in the second off a Jackson Van Roekel double scored Julian Figueroa.

The Grizzlies scored one of their own in the second to make it 7-1 heading into the third.

The rest of the way out, Gwinnett scored four in the third, two in the fourth, three in the fifth and two in the sixth to make it 18-1.

In the third game against Fisher, the two squads traded runs back and forth as both scored 11 runs over nine innings of action.

Everything changed in the 10th though as the Tigers scored 10 runs in the top half of the inning.

Fisher never had an answer for the Tiger’s behemoth of an inning.

David Amaya had nine RBIs in the game going 6-6 at the plate and added a walk. Sage Bonner added three RBIs on a three run home run in the 10th inning.

In the final game of the four game series, the Tigers held the advantage over Gwinnett heading into the sixth inning.

The Tigers built a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, with three runs coming off the bats of Ortega and Catala.

But the lead did not last.

In their half of the sixth, the Grizzlies scored five runs to take their first lead of the game.

The Tigers would never score again and between the bottom of the seventh and eighth inning, the Grizzlies added eight more runs to seal it.

Iowa Wesleyan will return to the diamond on March 14. as they hold their home opener against the Graceland University Yellowjackets beginning at 1 p.m.