OWENSBORO, Ky. – The Kentucky Wesleyan baseball team split their Monday doubleheader versus Cedarville to open the four-game set at Panther Park.
Wesleyan moved to 16-16 overall and 6-8 in the G-MAC, while Cedarville moved to 12-18 overall and also 6-8 in the conference. The two teams are tied for the third spot in the G-MAC South Division.
After a leadoff strikeout to begin the day, Cedarville used two walks and a single to load the bases with just one out versus Panthers ace Evan Oakley (W, 5.2 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 7 SO). Oakley responded with back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the jam and post a first inning zero.
Oakley put the Yellow Jackets down in order in the top of the second before the Wesleyan offense went to work in the bottom half. Rhett Dysholm led off with a single, Ellis Hurt walked, and Colson Perry laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move both the runners into scoring position. Logan Molnar came up next and delivered with a single to right field to drive in Dysholm, and Tucker Hagan followed with a double down the left field line to score Hurt. Davin Yates put the cherry on top with an RBI groundout that allowed Molnar to cross the plate and sent the Panthers to the third up 3-0.
Oakley again put Cedarville down 1-2-3 in the third and the Panthers offense again capitalized in the bottom half. Jacob Riegel and Baron Ratliff both worked walks to open the frame before Dysholm reached on a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners with one out. Hurt came to the plate next and singled to center field to plate Riegel, and Perry followed with his own double down the left field line to score Dysholm and extend KWC's advantage to 5-0.
The Yellow Jackets scratched their first run across in the top of the fifth with the help of an error, but Wesleyan immediately got that run back and more in the bottom of the fifth. Hurt and Perry both continued their strong games with singles and Molnar worked a walk to load the bases with no outs against the Cedarville bullpen. Hagan and Yates delivered back-to-back sacrifice flies to add two more runs to the Panthers' tally and increase their lead to six at 7-1.
Cedarville again scratched a run across in the top of the sixth, but that was all the offense the road team could muster in game one. Josh Tucker (S, 1) pitched the final 3.1 innings and impressed by allowing just three hits and zero runs with two strikeouts to earn the save.
Wesleyan added one more run in the bottom of the eighth, using a Liam Hutson leadoff single and a Ratliff sacrifice fly to plate another in the eventual 8-2 series-opening victory.
Perry went 3-3 in the triumph with a double and an RBI. Hurt had two hits, a double, and an RBI, and each of Hagan and Yates had two RBIs.
Game two went the way of the visiting Yellow Jackets. Ethan Ell (L, 5.1 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 5 SO) had a 1-2-3 top of the first and Ratliff launched his second home run of the season in the bottom of the first to power a nice start for Wesleyan, but it was all Cedarville from there.
A chaotic second inning saw CU plate three runs in their turn at the plate with the help of an error and an unfortunate ground ball bounce for Wesleyan. The Yellow Jackets added a run in the fifth and sixth innings in their 5-1 win to even the series and split the doubleheader.
The two teams battle in the final two games of the series tomorrow at 12:00 PM. The doubleheader at Panther Park will be streamed live on FloCollege and fans can listen live on 94.7 WBIO.
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