OWENSBORO, Ky. – The Kentucky Wesleyan baseball team (13-15, 3-7 G-MAC) split their opening two games versus Tiffin on Saturday at Panther Park.
Wesleyan prevailed 1-0 in the second game of the day on a Logan Molnar walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh. In the top half of that inning, Baron Ratliff delivered a strike from right field to home plate to nail a Dragon at home plate as Tiffin attempted to take the lead.
The Dragons began the day quickly, scoring two runs in the top of the first to take an early lead in game one. Later, in the bottom of the third, Wesleyan earned a run back. Jacob Riegel reached on an error, advanced to second on a groundout, and scored on a Rhett Dysholm double to cut the KWC deficit in half at 2-1.
That score held until the top of the fifth. The Dragons used several singles, a double, and a home run to tack on four runs in the inning and take a commanding 6-1 advantage.
The Panthers made their comeback attempt in the bottom of the seventh. Liam Hutson walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Riegel walked to put two on with no outs. Dysholm again came through with an RBI single that scored Hutson, and Ellis Hurt followed with another single to drive in Riegel.
After a pitching change, Colson Perry walked to load the bases and Molnar followed with yet another KWC single to plate Dysholm. A double play ended the offensive effort, and Wesleyan went down in order in the final two innings in the defeat.
Game two was the definition of a pitchers' duel. Panthers starter Ethan Ell threw 6.2 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts as the Wesleyan offense attempted to put together that elusive run.
With the help of the aforementioned Ratliff throw to home plate, David Castleberry earned the final out of the top of the seventh before Molnar came through in the clutch with the walk-off hit.
KWC has two more versus the Dragons tomorrow at Panther Park. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 12:00 PM. Fans can watch live on FloCollege or listen live on 94.7 WBIO.
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