McPHERSON, Kan. (macbulldogs.com) --- The McPherson College baseball team closed out its 2018 home slate with a doubleheader split with the University of Saint Mary Tuesday afternoon at Bulldog Park.
The Spires posted a 12-1, 7-inning win in the opener - a game that was resumed in the fourth inning after being suspended April 8 due to inclement weather. The Bulldogs (29-23, 7-20 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference) rallied for a 3-2 victory in game two.
Game 1 --- Saint Mary 12, McPherson 1 (7 innings)
Saint Mary built a 4-1 lead before the game was suspended. The Spires plated three runs in the first on RBI singles by Juan Gallardo and Sam Miller and an Andrew Berry sacrifice fly, then added another in the third when Dylan Carrender scored on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded.
McPherson plated its lone run in bottom of the third as
Lane Fleming (Council Grove, Kan., Council Grove HS) doubled in
Dominick Ramos (Fresno, Calif., Hartnell College), who drew a one-out walk.
The Spires were batting with one out and runners on the corners when the rains came. When the game resumed Tuesday, USM piled on seven more runs as six of the seven batters faced by Bulldog reliever
Jake Herman (San Diego, Calif., Coronado HS) reached base. Gallardo reached on a walk to load the bases, followed by a Duante Freeman RBI single, three straight bases-loaded walks and a Cameron Richardson sacrifice fly before Shun Tsunoda plated two on a double deep down the left-field line.
Tsunoda's two-bagger signaled the end of Herman's day as
Chopper Wade (Olathe, Kan., Olathe South HS) was brought in from the bullpen. Wade pegged the first batter he faced to re-load the bases, but got out of the frame with a groundout to short.
Wade retired the Spires in order in the fifth, then had runners on the corners with two outs in the sixth when he picked off Tsunoda to end the frame.
The Spires tacked on one more run in the seventh as Alexis Ramos hit a leadoff double just inside the bag at third and later scored on a Gallardo sacrifice fly.
After getting two hits in each of the three innings, McPherson was limited to a single and a pair of walks over the final four innings.
Mike Amado, who remained in the game after the long layoff, scattered seven hits and three walks while striking out five for the seven-inning victory.
Chad Gotto (Fresno, Calif., West Hills CC) took the loss. He was charged with six runs (four earned) on five hits and four walks. Wade pitched the final 3 1/3 innings, allowing just one run on three hits.
"Chopper's not scared," said head coach Bryan Moses of Wade. "He's going to come in and throw strikes. As a freshman, he's really matured and he earned the right to come in in that situation through all of his hard work this year."
Tsunoda had four hits, drove in two and scored twice to lead the Spires. Freeman added two hits, while Gallardo, Miller, Berry and Jarett Goss all had two RBIs.
Fleming and
Mark Strebin (Westville, Ill., Danville Area CC)Â each had two hits for the Bulldogs.
Game 2 --- McPherson 3, Saint Mary 2
McPherson broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning of game two when Fleming launched a towering fly ball over the fence in left-center despite a stiff wind blowing in from that direction.
"[The home run] shows that he's one of the strongest hitters in our conference," noted Moses.
After a fly-out,
Brevin Baessler (Tempe, Ariz., Western Nebraska CC) and Strebin followed with back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners. The pair then successfully executed a double steal to give McPherson a 2-0 lead.
The Bulldogs made it 3-0 in the fifth as pinch-runner
Hunter Dreiling (Goddard, Kan., Eisenhower HS) scored on an
Evan Willow (Victoria, B.C., Canada, Lambrick Park HS) RBI single.
Gotto was given the ball to start game two and carried a shutout into the sixth inning.
In the sixth, the Spires opened the inning with a Carrender single and a Gallardo double with Carrender scoring on a fielder's choice off the bat of Freeman. Freeman scored on another Spire fielder's choice to cut the Bulldog lead to 3-2. Goss followed with a single through the left side but Gotto avoided further damage by striking out Cameron Richardson to end the inning.
The Bulldogs were retired in order in the bottom of the sixth, leaving the door open for USM. A single by Luke Knight and a pair of walks by Gotto loaded the bases, prompting Moses to call for
Garrett Connor (Highlands Ranch, Colo., Arapahoe HS) out of the bullpen. Connor ended the game by getting Berry to ground out to Strebin at third.
Gotto scattered six hits and six walks while striking out five to get the win, while Conner picked up a one-out save.
"Chad's one of our hardest workers," said Moses. "And the work pays off for him. He's out there - pitching on guts - and he's not afraid of the moment. He makes pitches when he needs to and gets ground balls. We were really happy with Chad today, not only to win this game, but to save our bullpen a little bit going into the York series. He was just lights out."
Saint Mary starter Sergio Valenzuela took the loss, allowing two runs on five hits in four innings. Alfredo Silva threw the final two innings, giving up one run on three hits.
Fleming and Willow each had two hits and an RBI to lead the McPherson offense.
"Fleming's home run was a huge momentum swinger for us. We saw what Chad was doing on the mound and [our guys] wanted to scratch the scoreboard for him and get a run. If we could do that, we knew we'd be in pretty good shape considering how he was throwing."
Gallardo had a double and drew two walks for USM, while Berry also finished with a double.
Fleming's fourth-inning blast was the 49th by a Bulldog this season, breaking the single-season program mark of 48 set a year ago.
"This season hasn't gone as we had hoped in conference play, but we've set some milestones," Moses said. "First, it was the wins record. And now, the home runs record. To set marks in both of those categories in consecutive years is really pretty special."
Six Bulldogs -- Willow,
Trevor Haycock (New Iberia, La., New Iberia Sr. HS),Â
Reily Martin (Auburn, Kan., Hayden HS),
Dylan Fontenot (Carencro, La., Carencro HS),
Kyle Wedel (Wasco, Calif., Taft College)Â and
Treyton DeVore (Inman, Kan., Inman HS)Â -- played in their final home games Tuesday.
Having already been eliminated from contention for the KCACÂ Tournament, McPherson wraps up its season this weekend with a three-game series at York College. Game one is slated for 6 p.m. Friday evening.
"We won't have a chance at the playoffs ourselves, but we have a say in who gets in," noted Moses. "And we need to take pride in that. There are a lot of teams bidding for those final spots and we're not going to lay down."
