Baseball Completes Sweep Over Iowa Wesleyan
The Westminster baseball team pulled out a three-game sweep over Iowa Wesleyan in the conference series on Saturday and Sunday. The Westminster Blue Jays dominated the Iowa Wesleyan Tigers in game one, 13-1. They came back in the bottom of the ninth in game two to take a 15-14 win, and on Sunday, they grabbed a 7-3 win. The Blue Jays improve their conference record to 14-9 and their overall record to 20-11.
The Blue Jays opened up game one on Saturday with 12 runs and 12 hits. Junior Tim Chambliss, sophomore Deion Hughes and senior Danton Hughes all hit homeruns, and senior Andy Pichler and De. Hughes hit triples. Junior Cameron Backes scored the 13th run in the bottom of the second off Chambliss’ RBI single.
Iowa Wesleyan scored one run in the sixth, but the Blue Jays ended the inning before they could score again. The Blue Jays held them from scoring in the seventh, ending the game with a 13-1 win.
De. Hughes (8-0) was credited with the win after pitching five innings. He struck out seven and allowed only two hits and no runs. Chambliss went 3-3 from the plate, scoring twice and grabbing five RBI. De. Hughes and sophomore Ryan Loethen went 3-4 from the plate.
In game two of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Tigers scored three runs in the first. Da. Hughes hit a double to lead-off the second inning and scored on Loethen’s RBI single, but the Tigers scored seven in the third to take a 10-1 lead.
Junior Tyler Branneky hit a two run homerun in the bottom of the third, and the Blue Jays scored five more in the fourth to cut the deficit to 10-8.
In the top of the eighth, the Tigers put up three more runs to bring their lead to 13-8.
Ty. Branneky and Chambliss were able to cross the plate in the eighth, but Iowa Wesleyan scored another run in the ninth to bring their lead to 14-10 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Pichler scored on Chambliss’ RBI double. Ty. Branneky hit a single and Da. Hughes was hit by a pitch to bring bases loaded with Loethen up to bat. Loethen was hit by a pitch, bringing in Chambliss. Sophomore Jacob Holtgraewe came up to the plate and cracked a single to center field. Ty. Branneky and Da. Hughes came in to tie the game at 14, and Loethen was brought in on a dead ball, scoring the winning run to end the game with a 15-14 win.
Sophomore Collin Brinker (2-3) was credited as the winning pitcher. He pitch 1.2 innings. Da. Hughes went 3-4 from the plate and Chambliss went 4-6.
The Tigers hit a homerun in the first inning of Sunday’s nine inning game. They took the 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth, but the Blue Jays were at the top of the lineup heading into the bottom of the fourth.
Pichler led-off with a double, followed by a single by Chambliss. De. Hughes then hit a two RBI triple to center field to tie the game at 2. De. Hughes was then brought in by Ty. Branneky.
The Blue Jays added two more runs in the fifth inning to take the 5-2 lead.
The Tigers scored one in the eighth, but freshman Tanner Branneky cracked a homerun over the fence to score freshman Nick Cessna and himself and bring the score to 7-3. The Blue Jays held the Tigers from scoring again, ending the game with a 7-3 win and completing the three-game sweep.
Sophomore Will Miller was credited with the win. He pitched seven innings and struck out seven. Ta. Branneky went 2-3 from the plate with two runs and two RBI.
The Blue Jays host #2 Webster University on Tuesday, April 29 at 6:00 p.m. to wrap up their three-game conference series.
