SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – Seniors Matt Bezdicek and Dawson Penticoff logged a combined 12 innings pitched, however; the Dakota Wesleyan University baseball program dropped a pair of Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) contests versus league foe Dordt University on Saturday afternoon from Open Space Park in Sioux Center, Iowa. Dordt clinched the doubleheader opener, 1-0, by way of a pitcher's dual and claimed the finale 4-0.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was the Dakota Wesleyan offense making a strong presence to start game one with a pair of hits in the first inning. Cameron Quigley, the senior from Newcastle, Wyo., commenced the action with a double to left field while Wyatt Hunt registered a two-out infield single. DOR though escaped the jam by throwing Quigley out at the plate and the score remained knotted at 0-0.
The Defenders (10-18, 6-6 GPAC), who needed just one run to notch the victory, led off the bottom half of the first stanza with a double of their own. Meanwhile, just two hitters later, a single back up the middle plated the first and only run of the game as Dordt took the initial 1-0 lead through one complete frame.
With the stage set from an offensive approach, opposing pitchers dueled one another for the remainder of the contest including Tiger (7-16, 1-9 GPAC) lefthander Bezdicek. The Plymouth, Minn., native relinquished just seven hits and one walk as the 6-foot-4 starting pitcher fanned a trio of DOR batters.
Bezdicek, along with the DWU defense, surrendered 2-or-more hits in just two frames and retired the Defenders in order to conclude the sixth stanza. Down to its final three at-bats, Bezdicek walked to lead off the seventh frame; yet the Blue and Gray were retired in consecutive fashion and fell 1-0.
Matching Bezdicek's impressive performance on the mound pitch-for-pitch, Dordt ace Gyeongju Kim struck out 14 Dakota Wesleyan batters en route to his fifth victory of the 2022 season. Caleb Crist and Bradley Skorczewski also reached via base-on balls for DWU while Kalub Carmichael added a stolen base.
Quigley prolonged his productive approach at the plate with a walk to start game two, and Carter Gullickson ensued with an infield knock. Despite multiple runners on to start the top of the first inning, the Tiger hitters were sat down in order and the game sat scoreless.
DOR shortstop Logan Cline kickstarted the scoring in the bottom half of the stanza with a homerun to left field as Dordt tallied multiple hits in the stanza. Cline, who finished with three hits and two RBIs, and the Defenders tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning and controlled a 3-0 advantage through three innings played.
Kyler Halverson dialed a one-out walk in the fifth inning, and Hunt singled to right field in the eighth frame. Regardless, Dordt completed the sweep with the 4-0 victory. Carter Gullickson chipped in a stolen base in the finale while Penticoff and Troy Wilhelm combined for nine strikeouts on the bump.
UP NEXT
Conference play continues for Dakota Wesleyan with a GPAC doubleheader versus Briar Cliff University at 1 p.m. tomorrow from Cadwell Park in Mitchell, S.D.