Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
Pounding out a combined 20 runs on 20 hits, the Kentucky Wesleyan baseball team was able to come away with the first two games against Claflin University.

The Panthers clubbed five home runs in the doubleheader, including a pair of homers from Jonathan Eberhardt, one in each game.  Matt Pobereyko earned his second win of the season in game one with a masterful performance.

GAME ONE – KWC 7, CLAFLIN 2 (7 innings)

Pounding out their first three home runs, KWC was able to put game one away early.  The Panthers scored twice in the second, the first run coming on a Chad Klein solo home run, his first of the season, and the second run scoring on a Josh Vance RBI single that scored Josh Galvin and made it 2-0 through two innings.

KWC tacked on two more runs in the third, both coming on Eberhardt's first home run of the season and making the score 4-0.  A Tyler Howard RBI ground out that scored Galvin made it 5-0 through four innings.

Troy Paris' first home run as a Panther moved the score to 6-0 in the fifth and Dennon Koziol scored on a steal and two base throwing error by the catcher to bring the score to 7-0 in the sixth.  Claflin would add single tallies in the sixth and seventh, but it wasn't enough as KWC closed out the win 7-2.

Pobereyko started and went six innings, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out seven to move to 2-0 on the season.  Nate Verst finished the game, allowing two hits and a run with one strikeout in his lone inning of work.

GAME TWO – KWC 13, CLAFLIN 10

Both pitching staffs struggled to contain offenses in game two, and KWC jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top half of the first.  Howard led off the game with a single and moved to second on a walk to Dennon Koziol.

Howard would score on Eberhardt's RBI single to make it 1-0 with no one out.  Paris, the next batter, walked and that brought up Kyle Emig, who laced a three-run double that cleared the bases and made it 4-0.

Neither team scored in the second and Claflin responded in the bottom of the third, tallying six runs in the frame to take a 6-4 lead through three innings.  The Panthers would respond in the top of the fourth, as Koziol cut the lead to 6-5 with an RBI single that scored Mike Hellmueller.

KWC held Claflin scoreless in the bottom half and retook the lead in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Vance, which tied the game at 6 and then a passed ball that scored Vance and made it 7-6.  Claflin would get a home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth and the score was tied at 7 through five innings.

The Panthers recaptured the lead in the top of the sixth with an Eberhardt solo home run to make it 8-7.  They would tack on two more runs in the inning on an RBI single by Vance and an RBI double from Hellmueller, to bring the score to 10-7 through five and a half.

Neither team scored again until the bottom of the seventh, when Claflin would tally three runs to tie the score again at 10-10.  KWC would put the game away in the top of the ninth.

Koziol led off the inning with a home run to make it 11-10 and five batters later, Jeremy Cline was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Eberhardt and make the score 12-10.  A bases loaded walk to Hellmueller brought the score to its final margin of 13-10.

Justin Kittel picked up the win in relief for KWC (3-2), pitching the final 2.2 innings and allowing no hits and no runs while walking two and striking out six.  The Panthers will look for the series sweep tomorrow, with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m. CT.