Tigers start GPAC play with two splits
MITCHELL, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team split two doubleheaders when it started Great Plains Athletic Conference play this past weekend in Nebraska. The Tigers split with both Nebraska Wesleyan University and Concordia University to start the league season with a 2-2 record.
Game 2
Game 2
Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dakota Wesleyan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 3 |
Neb. Wesleyan | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | X | 14 | 16 | 1 |
Game 1
Game 1
Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dakota Wesleyan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 2 |
Concordia (Neb.) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
Game 1
Game 1
Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dakota Wesleyan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 0 |
Neb. Wesleyan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 3 |
Game 2
Game 2
Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dakota Wesleyan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
Concordia (Neb.) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | X | 9 | 15 | 2 |
MITCHELL, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team split two doubleheaders when it started Great Plains Athletic Conference play this past weekend in Nebraska. The Tigers split with both Nebraska Wesleyan University and Concordia University to start the league season with a 2-2 record.
Saturday in Lincoln, Neb., Dakota Wesleyan beat the Prairie Wolves 7-5 to start the series, but lost the second game 14-7. Sunday in Seward, Neb., DWU shut out the Bulldogs 6-0 in the first game but lost the nightcap 9-4.
Saturday afternoon, DWU got on the board first in the first game against NWU on a sac fly by Stephen Gunnell. The Tigers added two runs in the fourth on a two-run single by Kirk McBreen, and made it a 4-0 game on an RBI double from Nick Tadlock in the fifth inning. The Prairie Wolves scored once in the fifth and sixth innings, but the Tigers added some insurance with a three-run seventh. Erik Nockleby walked and Gunnell and Tadlock were both hit by a pitch to start the inning to load the bases. Chris Ciatti had an RBI single and Jon Holsworth hit a two-run single to put DWU up 7-2.
Nebraska Wesleyan scored three runs of its own in the bottom of the inning on two RBI singles and a sac fly, but the Tigers were able to get out of the inning and preserve the win. Five players had two hits for the Tigers, who had 12 total hits. Nockleby and Tadlock both doubled and Holsworth and McBreen each had two RBIs. Ethan Opsahl threw all seven innings. He gave up five runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts.
The Tigers scored three first-inning runs in the second game of the doubleheader on an RBI single by Nockleby and a two-run homer by Michael Lukkason, but gave up two runs in the bottom of the inning to NWU. The Tigers went up 5-2 in the second on a two-run homer by Holsworth, but the Prairie Wolves scored two runs in the bottom of the inning and in the third inning to go up 6-5. NWU used four hits and one DWU error to score five runs in the fifth, and it added three more in the sixth.
The Tigers scored two runs in the seventh on an RBI double by Maximum Shower and an RBI single from Gunnell, but it wasn't enough. Shower, Nockleby and Lukkason all had two hits, and Lukkason and Holsworth both had two RBIs. Nick Anglin threw the first inning and gave up three runs on four hits. Chris Housley threw the next three innings and was tagged with the loss after giving up three runs on five hits. Josh Wagner and Luke Bamberg also saw time on the mound.
Sunday afternoon, the Tigers started the day with a 6-0 victory over Concordia. Toby Kaplan got the scoring started with a solo homer in the third inning, and he added a two-run shot in the fifth inning to put Dakota Wesleyan up 3-0. In the sixth, Tadlock was walked to send in a run, Ciatti grounded out to third for an RBI and Kaplan had an RBI single to end the scoring.
Kaplan finished 3-for-3 with four RBIs. Shower and Nockleby also had two hits each. Nick Pecha threw all seven innings for the complete-game shutout. He gave up seven hits and struck out five batters.
In the final game of the weekend, DWU went up 2-0 in the first on RBI sac flys by Lukkason and Gunnell, but Concordia scored once in the bottom of the inning and twice more in the second to go up 3-2. The Bulldogs added another run in the fourth before the Tigers tied the game with a two-run fifth. Gunnell had an RBI double and Tadlock an RBI single. Concordia scored five runs in the sixth to pull ahead for the win.
Nockleby, Tadlock and Kaplan all had two hits for DWU, which had nine total hits. Gunnell had two RBIs. Joey Fitzgerald threw the first five innings and gave up four runs on 11 hits with five strikeouts. Zac Custer threw one-third of an inning and gave up four runs on two hits and was tagged with the loss. Wagner threw the final two-thirds of an inning.
The Tigers are back on the road Tuesday, April 3, when they travel to Jamestown, N.D., for a nonconference doubleheader against Jamestown College at 2 p.m. DWU is back at home Saturday, April 7, for a GPAC doubleheader against Morningside College.