Game 2
Briar Cliff (Iowa)
Dakota Wesleyan
Game 1
Briar Cliff (Iowa)
MITCHELL, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team returned to Great Plains Athletic Conference play in a doubleheader against Briar Cliff University Thursday at Cadwell Park in Mitchell, S.D.
The Tigers were swept by the Chargers. BCU took game one 7-3 in extra innings, while pulling away early in a 10-1 win in the finale. DWU is now 9-15 overall and 1-5 in conference play.
In game one, the Chargers got on the board early when Joshua Penrod took the first pitch of the game over the right-field wall for a home run. Down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Tigers broke through with a pair of runs to tie the game. Neil Nagle doubled to deep right with runners on the corners to drive in two and tie the game.
BCU answered right back with a run in the seventh inning to regain the lead. The Chargers were aided by a Tiger error and a hit batter brought the go-ahead run home. DWU came to the plate in the seventh for its last at bat needing one run to stay alive.
Junior Cole Wenande (Alexandria, S.D.) led off the DWU seventh with a walk. With one out and Wenande on second, senior Ben Ladner (Delray Beach, Fla.) reached on an infield single to put runners on the corners. Sophomore Tyler Waddle (Huron, S.D.) drove in the tying run with a fielder's choice RBI, beating out a double-play attempt.
The scheduled seven-inning game went into extras. Still tied in the top of the ninth, the Chargers regained the lead with four runs, including three on a double from Chase Hernandez. The Tigers put two runners on in the ninth, but could not trim the BCU lead.
Senior Joey Fitzgerald (Fairmont, Minn.) started for the Tigers in game one, going six and 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on 11 hits and struck out seven. Sophomore Will Lutjen (Miller Place, N.Y.) took the loss for DWU in relief. The win went to BCU's Jeraldo Montejano. He pitched one and 2/3 innings in relief, allowing no runs on one hit.
After BCU hit another first inning home run, this time from Scott Morton, the Tigers were bit by the error bug. BCU built a 7-0 lead after four innings with the help of four errors from DWU. Starter Daniel Galvez (San Francisco, Calif.) took the loss on the mound for the Tigers. He allowed six runs, two earned, on four hits and one walk through three and 1/3 innings.
The Chargers tacked on three more runs before DWU got on the board in the sixth inning. Jared Neilan (Pierre, S.D.) scored for the Tigers when Wenande reached on an error in the sixth inning.
The Tigers continue GPAC play with a doubleheader against Morningside College at 1 p.m. Saturday in Sioux City, Iowa.