Kansas City, Mo. – Dakota Wesleyan walked away with a split from day one in Kansas City, Missouri with a game one 2-1 win against Dickinson State but fell in game two 6-3 to Missouri Valley. In game one Mitchell Sand picked up his first win as a DWU Tiger with an absolute gem on the mound, going a complete seven innings of run one ball and five punchouts. Dakota Wesleyan didn't need to do much with the dominant effort from Sand but got enough thanks to a fourth inning opposite field shot from Caleb Meyers which was his first of the season. The Bismarck State transfer only needed 84 pitches (50 strikes) to carve through the Blue Hawks lineup, which was a 180 from last year when the Tigers fell 28-0 at the Tucson invite. Sand has now had 13.0 innings of work and sporting a 1-0 record with a 2.08 era.
In game two, DWU fell behind early with MV plating one run in each of the first four innings while keeping DWU scoreless. Landon Ruesink changed that in the fifth when he connected on his first home run of the season with his three-run shot to bring the Tigers within one. Both teams went to the bullpen in the one run game and the Tigers staff struggled with command issuing five free passes compared to just the one hit given up in two innings of work, resulting in two runs for the Vikings. Missouri Valley pen did a good job of keeping the DWU bats quiet, limiting the Tigers to just one base hit in the two innings. Free passes and errors plagued the Tigers in this one, as the DWU staff issued 11 free passes and behind them committed four errors leading to the six Viking runs. At the plate DWU struggled to find their timing, recording just four hits with all of the run production coming on one swing from Ruesink.
Quick Stats Game 1:
Hitters-
- Caleb Meyers – 1 for 3, HR
- Jake Kostenbauer – 1 for 2, Run
Pitchers-
- Mitchell Sand – 7.0 innings, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K – Win (1-0)
Quick Stats Game 2:
Hitters-
- Landon Ruesink – 1 for 4, HR, 3 RBI
- Lane Darrow – 2 for 3, Run, SB, BB
- Drew Kitchens – 1 for 3, 2B
Pitchers-
- Alexander Mizsak – 4.0 innings, 3 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 3 K- Loss
- Logan Miller – 1.0 inning, BB
Up Next: The Dakota Wesleyan Baseball team is back on the diamond tomorrow at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. for two more games against Waldorf and Valley City State.