Statesmen Stay Alive with Split on Second Day of Heart Championship

Ozark, Mo.--The William Penn baseball team kept its season alive at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship by winning once after suffering its first loss of the event Friday.

WPU (29-21) opened the day with a 10-0 loss to #2 seed Clarke in seven innings, but bounced back by eliminating #6 seed Mount Mercy 7-2.

Clarke got on the board first in the winner's bracket contest, scoring three runs in the first inning.  CU expanded upon its lead in the third by tallying one more run.  The Pride then put the game away with six runs during the sixth and seventh innings.

Hits were hard to come by for the Statesmen as Blair Speas (So., O'Fallon, Mo., Undecided) came away with the lone base knock.

The bats came alive in the consolation bracket against Mount Mercy as WPU opened up with four runs in the first inning.  Two walks and an error helped the navy and gold load the bases before Nathan Jessell (So., Napa, Calif., Sociology) delivered a two-run double to score Tim Jean (Sr., Libertyville, Ill., Public Accounting) and Nick George (Jr., Sarina, Ontario, Sociology).  Trevor Dooley (Jr., Prole, Iowa, Computer Science) then singled to drive in both Abraham Arroyo (So., Camuy, P.R., Wellness and Recreation) and Jessell.

MMU responded in the bottom of the frame with one run to make it 4-1, but after two scoreless innings, WPU tallied three more in the fourth inning.

Dillan Schrock (Sr., Shingle Springs, Calif., Sociology) got things started in the fourth with a leadoff single before Speas singled down the left-field line to put runners on the corners for the Statesmen. After Schrock scored on a groundout to the pitcher, an error put Jean on first, while a groundout allowed runners to advance to second and third.  Arroyo then plated both Speas and Jean on a single to extend the advantage to 7-1.

The Mustangs scratched one last run across in the fifth inning, but never threatened the navy and gold.  All nine William Penn starters tallied a hit as the winning crew posted a 14-6 edge in base knocks and also took advantage of five MMU errors (two for WPU).

Schrock topped his squad by going 3-for-4, while Franklin Aparicio (Sr., Panama City, Panama, Business Management), Arroyo, and Joel Holguin (So., San Bernardino, Calif., Sociology) all tallied two hits.  Arroyo, Jessell, and Dooley managed two RBIs apiece.

Brian Thomas (Jr., Shingle Springs, Calif., Sports Management) earned the win, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits in 6 2/3 innings as the starter.  He struck out 10 batters and walked two.

Bret Whiffen (Jr., Green Bay, Wis., Exercise Science) entered in the seventh and worked 2 1/3 innings for the save.  The junior did not permit a run nor a hit, while striking out one Mustang.

Next Up: William Penn will look to keep going in the consolation bracket as it faces #1 seed Central Methodist Saturday at 1:30 p.m.