Tigers play on

MT. PLEASANT — It was a dark day in Mt. Pleasant on Tuesday, as the morning brought a somber announcement from Iowa Wesleyan University. The school, which has been open since the early 1840s, will be closing at the end of the school year.

Still, though, the athletic day went on as planned, and that meant the Iowa Wesleyan baseball team still had to play on. The Tigers were scheduled to play William Woods University in a 3 p.m. doubleheader, and the team was on the field to represent Iowa Wesleyan.

“It is what it is,” said Iowa Wesleyan head coach Blake Beaber. “There's nothing we can do about it, but I think we'll finish strong, find these guys places to play, and figure it out from there.”

It just so happened that the Tigers played in two thrillers. In Game 1, Iowa Wesleyan fell 9-6 in 10 innings. In Game 2, Iowa Wesleyan won 3-2.

“It was a great day of baseball,” said Beaber. “I didn't know what to expect today after the news we got, but guys came out and battled.”

Coincidentally, the Tigers were playing the first of four-straight games against what would have been future American Midwest Conference rivals. William Woods was supposed to be a conference foe next season, as was Wednesday’s opponent, Hannibal-Lagrange University.

The Tigers seemingly had Game 1 won as David Amaya seemingly brought home Carlos Vicente on a walk-off sacrifice fly in the eighth, which would have made it a 7-6 Iowa Wesleyan win. The umpires, however, ruled that Vicente left third base early, and he was doubled off to extend the game.

Froymer Ortega went 3-for-5 with two RBIs in the loss. Julian Figueroa was 3-for-4 with a double, and Phillip Guerrero was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Luis Ayesa and Pedro Ramirez pitched for Iowa Wesleyan in Game 1. They combined to give up 13 hits and four walks, while combining for six strikeouts.

Cauy Massner took the mound in Game 2 and dominated the Owls’ lineup, striking 10 batters out over seven innings. William Woods collected just eight hits during the game.

“I felt really good,” Massner said. “The first one, we could have won, but it didn't go our way, so I went out there and tried to do the best I could for my guys, and they did the same for me.”

Massner spoke after the game about the emotions of playing just hours after getting the news of the school’s closure.

“It's obviously tough,” Massner said. “We all talked about it this morning, but we all wanted to come out here and play, and I think we played some of our best baseball all year.”

Offensively, Vicente, Amaya and Guerrero all picked up RBIs. Amaya scored Grant Yates on a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.

Despite the closure announcement, the Tiger baseball team (8-16, 2-4) is still focused on finishing strong, and they’ll be plenty busy over the next month, as the team has a packed April ahead.

Massner says he’s lucky to be able to have the extra time with his teammates, especially knowing the team won’t be able to play together after this spring.

“It's going to mean the world to me,” Massner said. “I don't know if I'll ever play with any of them again, or see some of them, so these next two months are going to be a blast. We're going to make the most of them.”