OWENSBORO, Ky. – The Kentucky Wesleyan baseball team (9-7) dropped the first two games of their series versus Fairmont State Friday at Apollo High School.
Both starting pitchers in game one kept the offenses quiet through three innings as Cole Peaslee worked around traffic in each frame. The Falcons finally broke through in the fourth, scoring one run in that inning and three more in the fifth.
The Panthers got one back in the bottom of the sixth. Jacob Riegel doubled and Liam Hutson singled to put two on for Logan Molnar. The shortstop came through with a single to left field to score Riegel, but even with no outs at that point, Wesleyan couldn't tack on any more runs.
Mason Clark and Carter Kimmel combined to keep KWC in the game over the final two innings by allowing just one run after Peaslee exited, but the Panthers couldn't mount a comeback in the seven-inning affair.
Game two was more of the same for the Wesleyan offense. Fairmont (5-4) broke through early with two runs in the second and later added another run in the sixth while blanking the Panthers through six frames.
KWC made it interesting in the bottom of the seventh. Rhett Dysholm was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Baron Ratliff followed with a double to put the tying run at the plate with no outs. Davin Yates came in to pinch hit and reached on an infield groundball that drove in Dysholm and pulled the Panthers within two at 3-1.
After the Falcons recorded one out, Ellis Hurt came up and singled up the middle to plate Ratliff and advance Yates, the possible tying run, to second. Fairmont State then tallied back-to-back strikeouts to shut the door on the comeback bid.
Ethan Ell had a strong day with seven strikeouts and just two runs allowed (zero earned) over five innings. Jacob Dilday came on in relief and gave Wesleyan a chance by allowing just a single run across two innings.
The Kentucky Wesleyan baseball team is set to play two more against the Falcons this weekend, but the date, time, and location of those two games is yet to be determined due to the weather. Stay tuned to the @KWCPanthers social media pages for an announcement.
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