MITCHELL, S.D. – In its first home, conference doubleheader of the season, the Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team fell versus (RV) Doane University in the opening doubleheader on Saturday afternoon from Cadwell Park in Mitchell, S.D. Despite a late Dakota Wesleyan lead, Doane came back for the 8-5 win in game one and continued its winning streak with a 7-2 victory in the doubleheader finale.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Entering the weekend with a 10-game winning streak, the Doane offense went right to work in the opener with two runs in the third inning. A one out, well-struck ball by outfielder Joe Osborn granted the Tigers (17-5, 6-0 GPAC) of Doane the early 2-0 advantage. Matt Bezdicek, however; answered with a pair of strikeouts for Dakota Wesleyan to escape the frame, and the senior lefthander finished with seven strikeouts through six innings of work.
DWU evened the score in the bottom half of the third stanza with two runs of its own as Drew Kitchens reached with one out. A Bezdicek double eventually capped off the inning, and Cameron Quigley came around to home plate. Three different Tigers (7-11, 1-5 GPAC) registered 2-or-more hits in the first game while the score sat deadlocked through three complete innings.
After both teams added a run in the fourth frames, Quigley and Carter Gullickson both reached to lead off the fifth stanza. Daulton Wilcoxen followed with a single to left field as Dakota Wesleyan clocked two runs on three hits in the inning to claim the benefit, 5-3.
DOA, though rallied back with two runs in its final at-bat in the top half of the seventh frame and used a three-run homerun to win the opener, 8-5. Kitchens and Luke LeMay chipped in RBIs while Quigley and Gullickson dialed multiple hits.
The visiting Tigers of Doane once again leaped out to a quick start with multiple hits to start game two and managed an initial 2-0 lead. Dawson Penticoff escaped the early jam though with a strikeout before Quigley and DWU countered with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Quigley tallied both a hit and a base-on balls at the plate in the finale as neither team worked a run over the next two stanzas.
Doane added three runs in the fourth inning followed by two more runs in the sixth inning. Kyler Halverson and Wyatt Hunt reached for DWU in the bottom of the fourth inning, and Kalub Carmichael eventually plated another Dakota Wesleyan run. Gullickson paced the Tigers with three hits, yet Doane held on for the 7-2 victory and captured its 12th-straight win of the season.
UP NEXT
Dakota Wesleyan continues the homestand with another doubleheader versus Doane University in the thick of Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) play set for noon tomorrow from Cadwell Park in Mitchell, S.D.
