CAMANCHE – Iowa Wesleyan College hit four home runs on Sunday and extended its winning streak to seven games by defeating Ashford University 9-5, finishing a sweep of the Saints in both teams’ Midwest Collegiate Conference opening series of the season.
Roderick Barcelo (Jr.-Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) hit his fourth home run of the weekend, while Zach Starkey (Sr.-Aurora, Ill.), Jared Zueck (Jr.-Williamsville, Ill.) and Jared Klosterboer (Jr.-Williamsburg, Iowa) also all added homers. The Tigers finished the series with 13 home runs in three games and improved to 18-10 overall this year.
IWC took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI single by Starkey and never trailed the rest of the way. Barcelo hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Zueck and Starkey added solo blasts later as Wesleyan led 6-1 in the sixth inning.
The Saints hung around, though, and received a three-run home run from Cameron Puetz in the bottom of the eighth to make it 6-5 heading into the final inning. With two outs and two on in the top of the ninth, though, Klosterboer came through with a three-run shot, his first homer of the season and the hit that provided the final margin.
On the mound Hector Acevedo (Sr.-Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) went all nine innings for the complete game win. He allowed nine hits and five runs but struck out 12 for his fourth win of the season.
Puetz had three hits and four RBIs for the Saints, who dropped to 5-10 this season. Billy Becker pitched five innings and took the loss for Ashford.
After 28 games away from home, IWC hopes to finally play its first home game of the season on Tuesday when it is scheduled to host St. Ambrose University at the Mapleleaf Community Complex. The doubleheader is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.
For more information regarding the IWC baseball program or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
Box score IWC 9 Ashford 5
