Baseball | 3/7/2011 9:26:26 PM
Box Score
McPherson, Kan. – Despite a 10 strikeout effort from freshman pitcher Justin Roark (Burkburnett, Texas), the McPherson College baseball team fell, 4-2, against Sterling College Monday night at the Grant Sports Complex. The game was the final of the four game series between the Bulldogs and Warriors.
With the loss, McPherson remains winless with a 0-10 overall record and 0-6 mark in KCAC action, while the Warriors improve to 9-5 overall and 4-0 in league play.
Despite taking the loss, Roark pitched 6.2 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, while striking out a career-high 10, including seven in the first three innings. In relief of Roark, Steven Paramore (Mansfield, Texas) struck out the one batter he faced.
Offensively, McPherson tallied two runs on four hits. Paramore, Daxton Deal (Abilene, Texas), Chris Cesario (Mansfield, Texas) and Jared Reed (Mansfield, Texas) tallied one hit a piece in the effort.
Sterling opened the scoring in the top of the second when the Warriors took advantage of a McPherson error. However, the Bulldogs answered back with a pair of their own in the bottom half to take a 2-1 lead. Paramore and Cesario opened the frame with back-to-back singles, before a William Waltenburg (Avondale, Ariz.) sacrifice fly scored Paramore from third. Cesario came around to score two batters later as the Warriors’ third baseman failed to handle a Joseph McLain (Cleveland, Okla.) grounder.
Roark retired Sterling in order over the next two innings, including striking out the side in the third. He would find himself in a jam in the sixth with runners on second and third with only one out. Sterling tied the score on a ground out to second, but Roark would strikeout the next batter to make it a 2-2 tie entering the bottom of the sixth.
McPherson failed to score in the sixth, which kept the door open for the Warriors. A pair of hit batters bookended a sacrifice bunt to give SC runners on first and second with one out. A Sterling infield single would load the bases with just one out. The Warriors took the lead on a sacrifice fly, before putting the game away when a routine grounder took a bad hop and bounced over the head of the MC third baseman. SC’s two runs in the seventh gave the Warriors the 4-2 victory.
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, March 12 when they host the University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) at 1:00 p.m.
