Baseball ‘Cats drop two to start Florida spring break tour

Sports Release
March 6, 2023

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The West Virginia Wesleyan baseball team lost to Seton Hill 12-1 in seven innings and 9-3 to Minnesota Crookston. The Bobcats surrendered 21 runs and 29 hits total in the two losses.

Game 1 vs Seton Hill
Seton Hill got on the board early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first on a single and a fielder’s choice. Both offenses went quickly until the Griffins plated two more in the bottom of the third on an RBI triple and RBI single.

Wesleyan scored in the top of the fourth off of a throwing error where Jake Ascari was able to get home. SHU scored in the bottom half of the inning on another RBI triple. The bottom of the fifth is when Seton Hill busted the game wide open, plating all seven runs with two outs to make it 12-1 after five innings. Both teams saw little production in the final innings of the game with Seton Hill winning in seven innings.

Jack Oberdorf, Vincenzo Rauso, Logan Vietmeier and Owen Sabol all had two RBI for SHU. Three other Griffins had 1 RBI. Jack Lard picked up his first win of the season after pitching three innings of relief with five strikeouts.

Hunter Eplin was served the loss after going four innings and giving up five earned runs.

Game 2 vs Minnesota Crookston
The Golden Eagles scored first in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly. UMD put a three up on the board in the bottom of the third with a single and a two-run blast to make it 4-0 after three innings. Minn. Crookston was able to extend their lead once again in the bottom of the fourth off of a two-run RBI single.

UMD made it 9-0 before the Bobcats were able to plate three runs in the top of eighth with Sam Ingram hitting a two-run RBI triple and an RBI single by Eddie Rueda. That was the last of the scoring for either side as the Golden Eagles closed the door on Wesleyan in the top of the ninth.

Minn. Crookston was led by Mike Hallquist who went 2-3 at the plate with four RBI. Sawyer Satrom was 3-4 with two RBI to aid the Golden Eagle offense. Jake Dykhoff went seven innings with no runs and 10 strikeouts to take the win.

Ingram finished with two RBI and Rueda had one RBI for the Bobcats. Eli Brogan was handed with the loss after going 4 1/3 innings, giving up eight earned runs on nine hits. Anthony Hernandez pitched three innings of scoreless relief, striking out two.