Baseball | 4/16/2012 11:53:00 PM
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McPherson, Kan. – The Bulldogs squared off against the Braves of Ottawa University for a couple days of baseball on Sunday, April 15 and Monday the 16th. The opening games were played in Ottawa and the Braves took both, winning 2-1 and 10-3. Monday, two more close battles ensued in McPherson with OU coming out on top twice, 9-8 and 15-14.
Sunday, Game One: McPherson 1 – Ottawa 2
Box Score
With neither team hitting well, the opening game of the series was the lowest scoring for both teams. OU jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the second inning but McPherson answered back in the third to tie it at one apiece. Ottawa scored the final run of the game in the fifth to grab the victory 2-1.
The Bulldogs out hit the Braves by one, but only put the ball into play four times themselves; the balls were struck by Brad Stanley (Coffeyville, Kan.), Dorian Shelton (Kansas City, Mo.), Jeremy Moore (McPherson, Kan.) and Trey DeRouen (Abbeville, La.) who also got the lone RBI.
Taylor Werts (Mansfield, Texas) pitched his ninth complete game of the season in 10 appearances. He surrendered two earned runs, three hits and one walk while recording five strikeouts in his seven innings.
Three different Ottawa players tallied a hit in their first win of the weekend.
OU sent Jacob Loucks to the mound and he pitched a complete game for the Braves. He allowed one earned run while striking out six.
Sunday, Game Two: McPherson 3 – Ottawa 10
Box Score
The late game on Sunday went the way of the Braves as OU scored three runs in the opening inning to counter a two run top of the inning by McPherson. Ottawa never let off of the throttle as they scored in three of the remaining five innings.
Jordan Slaton (Dodge City, Kan.) led the Bulldogs in hits with two and RBIs with his two in the first and one in the third. Three other MC athletes also made positive contact with the ball.
A complete game was recorded by Dion Herron (Kansas City, Mo.), his fourth of the year. Herron allowed 10 earned runs, 10 hits and four walks. He struck out four, had seven fly outs and four groundouts.
Spenser Augustine was Ottawa’s leading hit getter with three. Three other Braves had two and one more earned one. Tyler Fata logged three RBIs to lead OU.
Three pitchers were used in Ottawa’s victory over the Bulldogs. Jake Kissner was the first man out and pitched three innings before Tyler Wilson took over in the fourth. Wilson got the Braves to the seventh inning where Austin Willard closed out the game.
Monday, Game One: McPherson 8 – Ottawa 9
Box Score
In McPherson’s first home contest against Ottawa, the Bulldogs scored five of their eight runs off of the Frank Mora (Houston, Texas) and Leander Greene (Argonia, Kan.) homeruns. MC grabbed a quick 3-0 lead after the first inning but gave up five in the third. Not to be outdone, the Bulldogs scored two in the bottom of the third to tie it up at 5-5. Three more runs by OU in the fourth were answered by McPherson’s three in the fifth. The Braves had the last laugh as they scored one in the sixth to close the game with a one run 8-9 victory.
In their 27 at bats, MC put the ball into play eight times, two coming off the bats of Green and Shelton. Four other Bulldogs earned one hit apiece.
Senior Curt Compagnone (Salina, Kan.) started things off on the mound for MC and pitched five innings before being relieved. He surrendered nine runs, seven earned, coming from 11 hits and two walks. Casey McConnell (Hutchinson, Kan.) finished out the game, taking down six straight batters.
Three hits were grabbed by Greg Wisner and Ryan Bontrager to top the stat sheet for the Braves. Two others earned two hits and two more had one.
Bret Stratton started things off for OU’s pitching rotation. He went four innings, allowing eight runs, seven of which were earned before Willard came in relief again. Willard finished the game, taking care of the 10 batters he faced.
Monday, Game Two: McPherson 14 – Ottawa 15
Box Score
In the most offensive happy game of the series, Ottawa once again took the W from McPherson. After a six-run third inning by the Braves made the score 10-2, MC showed great perseverance as they chipped away at the eight run deficit until they tied it up in the bottom of the seventh off of a Moore single to left field, 13-13. OU put up two in the top of the eighth inning which was just enough to keep the Bulldogs at bay as MC could only grab one in the bottom of the inning.
A season-high 19 hits were recorded by MC in easily the best offensive performance of the year. Mora led McPherson with four hits, going four of five in the game. Moore, DeRouen and Shelton each landed three hits safely while five others had at least one hit; Moore was the team’s leading RBI man with four.
The starting pitching job went to Logan Zike (Frisco, Texas) for the final game of the series but after a rough two innings, he was pulled for McConnell. Zike allowed eight runs, six earned from nine hits and one walk. McConnell recorded three earned runs and four strikeouts in his three innings before Mora finished the game for the Bulldogs. Mora threw for the final three innings, surrendering four earned runs from five hits and three walks.
20 hits were amassed by the Braves in their fourth straight defeat of McPherson. Wisner went 5-of-5, all singles, to lead the team in hits; he also brought around three to tie Ryan Bontrager for RBI leader.
Ottawa made their way through four pitchers in the team’s final game against McPherson. Cole Meeks started things off and pitched three innings before Willard came in for the third straight game. After pitching one and two thirds, Willard was replaced by Wilson in the fifth. Wilson put in two and a third before Augustine came over from his second-base position to close things out in the eighth.
McPherson will be on the field again on Thursday, April 19 when they travel to Bethany, Kan., to take on the Swedes in a double-header set to start at 1 p.m. (CT)
