TIGERS EARN SPLIT ON DAY TWO AGAINST CHARGERS BEHIND BIG PERFORMANCE FROM MEYERS IN GAME TWO
Sioux City, Iowa – The Dakota Wesleyan Tigers earn the split on day two of their four game series with the Briar Cliff Chargers. The Tigers fell in game one 11-4, despite holding a 4-0 lead in the sixth inning. The Chargers offense exploded for five runs in the sixth and seven in the seventh. DWU rebounded in game two with their 6-4 victory, which ended their eight-game losing streak they were on. Caleb Meyers picked up the win on the mound going 5.1 innings, punching out seven batters while also collecting half of the Tigers hits in the game with his three-hit performance. Dakota Wesleyan moved to 9-18 (3-7 GPAC) with the split while Briar Cliff is now 13-13 (7-3).
Seth Christiansen got the nod in game one and ran into little to no trouble the first two times through the Chargers order. Briar Cliff looked like they might get on the board against Christiansen in the second, but left fielder Landon Ruesink had other ideas as he ended the inning throwing out a BCU runner at the dish. The Chargers failed to have a runner reach base for the next three innings giving DWU a 4-0 lead. Dakota Wesleyan plated one in the second off a Drew Kitchens double who later scored on a wild pitch, two in the second thanks to a costly BCU error, and then one in fifth on a sacrifice fly from Caleb Meyers scoring Michael Zeman who led off the inning with a walk.
The Chargers plated two runs in the sixth, but looked as though Christiansen might escape the inning with a 4-2 lead, but with one swing of the bat the Chargers took the lead with a three-run home run. They added on in the seventh inning in a big way with six more runs, making it 11-4. DWU couldn't mount any kind of comeback resulting in a 11-4 loss.
In game two the Tiger staff looked to Caleb Meyers on the mound in the nine-inning game to try and escape Sioux City with one win. BCU jumped on the board in the first with a single run, but in the bottom half Christiansen delivered a out one, two RBI single up the middle to give DWU the lead back. The next three innings had both teams' respective starters settle in and keep each other off the scoreboard, keeping it a 2-1 ball game. In the fifth the Chargers tied things back up when they scored on a passed ball that ended up going down as an unearned run for Meyers. Again, the Tigers were quick to recapture their lead, plating two runs in the bottom half of the frame. DWU took full advantage of some control issues the Briar Cliff relief pitcher was having who walked four batters in the half frame alone.
DWU carried a 4-2 lead now heading to the sixth inning, in the nine-inning game. Meyers started to show signs of fatigue with his pitch count north of 100 and putting two runners on with one out. Head coach Charlie Dubanoski called to the bullpen in his veteran right hander, Jacob Glovich. Glovich got out of the jam by starting a 1-4-3 double play to end the top half of the sixth. DWU bats stayed quiet in the sixth while in the top of the seventh the Chargers scraped one run across, but like all game DWU responded with two of their own in the bottom half to increase their lead to 6-3. The eighth inning had no score change, resulting in it coming down to the ninth. Logan Miller was called upon to relieve Glovich who did his job of holding the DWU lead. Miller retired the first two batters, but then gave up a double and later allowed the runner to score on a pair of wild pitches. The threat ended there as Miller buckled down and got the last out to give DWU the 6-4 win and his first career save.
Up Next: The Dakota Wesleyan Baseball team wrapped up their March schedule and will next take the field in a single non-conference game against DII University of Sioux Falls, April 2 in Sioux Falls with first pitch at 4 p.m.
