CANTON, OHIO – The Kentucky Wesleyan baseball team (18-18, 8-10 G-MAC) split the first two games of their four-game set against Malone on Sunday.
The Panthers had an offensive outburst in game one behind starting pitcher Evan Oakley. After a scoreless first inning, Rhett Dysholm singled to lead off the second and later advanced on a groundout to set up Molnar. The shortstop came through with his own single, driving in Dysholm and putting Wesleyan up 1-0 early.
Using a couple infield singles and a walk, Malone loaded the bases in the bottom of the second before a single plated two for the Pioneers as the home team led 2-1 going to the third.
KWC managed to tie the game in the fourth. Ellis Hurt tallied a triple and Colson Perry lifted a sacrifice fly to score Hurt and knot the scoreboard up at 2-2.
The Pioneers took the lead back in the fifth with back-to-back solo home runs. Josh Tucker (W, 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 SO) came on for Oakley after a double and was able to keep Wesleyan's deficit at 4-2 headed into the sixth inning.
The Panthers plated another run in the top of the sixth to pull with one. Baron Ratliff worked a leadoff walk and later stole second before Perry tallied another RBI with a single up the middle to make the score 4-3 in favor of Malone.
Tucker threw a scoreless bottom half of the sixth to set up an offensive explosion for Wesleyan in the top of the seventh.
Tucker Hagan was hit by a pitch, Elijah Stockton reached on a fielder's choice, and Liam Hutson was also hit by a pitch to put two on with just one out. Jacob Riegel followed with a single through the right side to drive in Stockton, and Ratliff next delivered a single through the left side to plate Hutson and put KWC up 5-4.
The Panthers weren't done yet in the seventh. Dysholm singled to load the bases before a pitching change for the Pioneers. Hurt and Perry both followed with singles to drive in four more runs as Wesleyan led 9-4 going to the bottom half of the seventh.
Wesleyan added four runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth in their eventual 14-5 victory, highlighted by a Dysholm double and a Hurt single on top of several walks versus the Malone bullpen.
Dysholm and Hurt each had three hits, with the former adding a double, a walk, and three RBIs and the latter recording a triple and two RBIs. Perry logged a team-high four RBIs and Hutson registered a double and a triple.
Game two was an instant classic between the two conference foes. The Panthers got out of the gates fast with three first inning runs. Hutson singled and Ratliff doubled to drive in Hutson. Dysholm followed with a single to plate Ratliff before Hagan later recorded his own double to score Dysholm, giving Wesleyan an early 3-0 advantage.
After Ethan Ell posted a scoreless first, the KWC offense went right back to work. Stockton worked a walk, Hutson singled, and Riegel walked to load the bases with just one out. After a strikeout, Dysholm continued his stellar day with another single to plate two more runs and put the Panthers up 5-0.
Malone (17-16, 6-12 G-MAC) immediately got three runs back in the bottom half of the second, and that 5-3 score held until the fifth frame. In the top of the fifth, Dysholm singled before Hagan and Luke Renfrow both ripped doubles to extend the Wesleyan lead to 7-3.
The Pioneers managed to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth against Ell. Jacob Dilday was called on out of the bullpen to secure the last two outs and did just that, keeping the game tied at 7-7.
After a scoreless sixth pitched by Zach Taylor, the righty came back out for the seventh before a single led to coach Todd Lillpop calling on David Castleberry out of the bullpen. A sac bunt put the winning run on second before a Pioneers single plated that winning run and tied the series at one game apiece.
Dysholm had three hits again for a total of six on the day. Each of Hutson and Hagan added two hits to the Panthers ledger, and all three of Ratliff, Hagan, and Renfrow tallied doubles.
The final two games of the series are set for tomorrow, Monday, August 13th. First pitch is set for 9:00 AM and both games wll be streamed live on FloCollege.
