TIFFIN, OH – The Kentucky Wesleyan College baseball team took two from Tiffin University on Saturday afternoon. Wesleyan won the opener 6-0 behind
Isaac Rose's strong pitching performance. The Panthers closed out the series in dramatic fashion with 6-5 win.
The day started, however, with the resumption of yesterday's extra inning game that was suspended due to darkness. The Dragons walked-off with a 6-5 win in the 11
th. The Panthers leave Tiffin with a 11-10 record with a 4-2 mark in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
In the opener,
Isaac Rose pitched a gem to earn his second win of the season. Rose pitched six innings allowing just four hits while striking-out 11 on the day. Run support was not an issue as the Panthers posted six runs in the top of the sixth inning to solidify the victory.
It was an ominous start for the Dragons in the sixth as
Liam Hutson led off the inning with walk. Back-to-back one-out singles by
Rhett Dysholm and
Reece Davis loaded the bases. A pitching change resulted in the Dragons getting
Tate VanHooser to pop-out.
Cade Gudalis provided a two-out single that scored a pair.
Elijah Stockton drove-in Gudalis with a single later in the inning while the Panthers got back to Hutson and the top of the order. Hutson drove-in two more to cap off the six run inning.
Anthony Thomas pitched the seventh, striking-out two, to complete the shutout.
In game two the Dragons held a 1-0 lead after a solo homerun in the bottom of the first inning. The Panthers tied the game in the top of the second inning with
Logan Molnar's RBI single to center. In the second inning, Wesleyan took the lead. With runners in scoring position VanHooser lined a single into left-center, driving in two runs.
The Panthers added two more runs in the top of the third to take a 5-1 lead. A solo homerun by the Dragons led-off the bottom of the sixth, but the Panthers got that run back in the seventh with a sacrifice fly from Gudalis.
The Dragons led-off the bottom of the seventh with another solo homerun to pull within 6-3. Tiffin then loaded the bases in the eighth with no-outs.
Josh Tucker took over for
Zach Taylor on the mound and struck-out the side, all swinging.
There was more high leverage situations in the bottom of the ninth. Tiffin brought the tying run to the plate and got within one run after a two-run, one-out single. Tucker got the next batter to fly-out to center before the final out of the game was recorded on the leftfield warning track.
Noah Cook picked-up the win after 6.1 innings of work, allowing three runs on seven hits, with five strikeouts. Tucker earned his second save of the season with two innings of work, allowing two runs on two hits with four strikeouts. Dysholm finished the game three for four with a RBI, stolen base, and walk.
The Panthers will be in Midland, Michigan next week to open a four-game series against Northwood University. First pitch is schedule for 12PM CT.
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