Sioux City, Iowa – The Tigers dropped a pair of games against the Briar Cliff Chargers by scores of 9-0 in game one and 5-3 in game two. The two-day four set of games was supposed to be played in Mitchell, but switched sites due to snow and cold temps in the more northern city. Dakota Wesleyan drops to 8-17 (2-6 GPAC) on the season while Briar Cliff improved their record to 12-12 (6-2 GPAC).
In game one Mitchell Sand got the start for the Tigers and ran into trouble early giving up all seven of his earned runs in the first four innings. Agustin Sanchez came on in relief and did a good job of limiting the Chargers offense to just one run over his three innings of relief work. At the plate DWU was led by Seth Christiansen with his three hit performance followed by Caleb Meyers with two, including a double. Joseph Tharaldson had the only other extra base hit with his double in the second. Final stat lines had the Chargers score nine runs on 14 hits and commit no errors compared to the Tigers being shutout despite seven hits while committing two errors behind Sand and Sanchez.
The Tigers looked for a day one split in game two and called upon Alexander Mizsak to deliver just that. Mizsak also ran into early trouble, giving up a first inning two run shot but then settled in after that keeping the Chargers off the scoreboard for the next four innings. In the first DWU was able to get one of the two runs back thanks to a BCU error that allowed Christiansen to come around and score after his one out walk. Briar Cliff added to their lead with three runs in the sixth to give them a 5-1 lead through six innings. The Dakota Wesleyan struggles at the plate continued as the Tigers were held scoreless until the seventh when they plated two runs, but it wasn't enough resulting in a 5-3 final. DWU outhit the BCU 5-4 in game two but fell due to one big swing and a costly error with runners on.
Up Next: The Dakota Wesleyan Baseball team returns to the diamond tomorrow for two more games against the Chargers. First pitch is set for 10 a.m.
