Tiger baseball takes 2 of 4

CARLINVILLE, Ill. - The Iowa Wesleyan baseball team split a four-game series at Blackburn College over the weekend.

On Thursday, The Tigers fell 9-7 in Game 1 and won Game 2 by the same score. On Friday, the Tigers rolled 14-1 in Game 1 and fell 11-7 in Game 2.

After a slow start in Game 1 on Thursday, Iowa Wesleyan rattled the bats in Game 2. The Tigers scored two runs in the first inning, three in the third and four in the sixth to take a 9-0 lead, and all seven Blackburn runs came in the bottom of the ninth.

Jack De Burg was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs in that win. Chris D’Elia, Minami Matsumoto, and Erik Kiewiet all had two RBI nights.

Joe Morrison picked up the win on the mound, pitching 7.1 shutout innings and holding the Beavers to four hits and one walk, while striking out nine batters.

Iowa Wesleyan continued to hammer away at Blackburn in Game 1 on Friday. The Tigers scored the first 14 runs of the game to run away with another win.

Nick Salas dominated in the 13-run win, going 3-for-5 with a homerun and five RBIs. Dominic Gerace was 3-for-5 with three RBIs.

Luis Ayesa pitched seven innings in the Tigers’ win. He gave up one earned run on three hits and two walks, while striking out nine.

The Tigers had a 5-2 lead after the top of the fourth in the final game, but Blackburn put up seven runs in the bottom of the fourth and never gave up the lead.