IWC falls to Grand View in MCC tournament

PEOSTA ? The Iowa Wesleyan College baseball team will have to play back through the bracket after losing to Grand View University, 9-6, for the Tigers? first loss in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Baseball Tournament at A.J. Spiegel Park.

The Tigers scored in each of the first four innings but couldn?t keep the second-seeded Vikings at bay, allowing 15 hits to Grand View hitters. GVU advances to the tournament?s championship round and is one win away from the tournament title, while IWC now has to play an elimination game Thursday at noon against No. 3 seed Mt. Mercy University, with the winner advancing to face Grand View at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

Wesleyan (23-30 overall) led early in the game by scores of 3-1, 4-2 and 5-4. But the Tigers could not solve Grand View pitcher Caleb Phillips, who came on in relief in the fifth inning and did not allow a run until the ninth and gave up just three hits total.

The Vikings, meanwhile, hit IWC pitchers Joseph Neilson and Darryl Sexton throughout, scoring in six of nine innings in the game. Grand View took the lead for good with two runs in the sixth off of Neilson, taking advantage of a pair of wild pitches by the Tiger starting pitcher, and then added a single run in the seventh and a two-run home run by Matt Miller in the ninth.

Iowa Wesleyan got a two-run home run by Drew Koeppel in the first and RBI singles by Elliot Armstrong, Marco Prieto and Michael Mendoza in the second, third and fourth innings, respectively. The Tigers had ten hits in the first four innings against GVU starter Sean Wright and reliever Brett Toncar but finished with just three the rest of the way against Phillips and did not score again until the ninth when Koeppel sent in Armstrong on a sacrifice fly.

Ryan Doeppel finished with three hits for IWC, while Armstrong and Bobby Lloyd added two hits each. Neilson took the loss, allowing 12 hits and six runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Brady Wathen and Zac Smit both had three hits each for Grand View (26-27 overall), which featured six players with at least two hits and seven players driving in at least one run.

Thursday?s game against Mt. Mercy will once again include a live audio broadcast online at http://www.iwc.edu/onlinemedia.