OSKALOOSA – William Penn University jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and the Iowa Wesleyan College baseball team played catch-up the rest of the night, losing to the Statesmen 6-4 in a Midwest Collegiate Conference game.
The Tigers slipped further back in the MCC standings, losing to the conference leaders to drop to fourth place in the league, one-half game behind Viterbo (Wis.) University. IWC has now lost eight of its last 11 games to fall to 25-19 overall, 10-8 in the MCC.
William Penn (28-13 overall, 13-4 conference) scored six times in the first four innings, taking advantage of a number of Wesleyan miscues to build the early lead. The Tigers committed a pair of errors in the early innings leading to four unearned runs, part of five errors committed in the game.
IWC fought back with two runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to cut the lead to 6-3. Edwin Jimenez (Sr.-Lawrenceville, Ga.) doubled in a pair and Zach Starkey (Sr.-Aurora, Ill.) singled in a run in the fifth, but the Tigers missed chances to get even closer, stranding two runners in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings.
Neither team scored again until the bottom of the ninth, when Wesleyan got another run as Devin Smith (Sr.-Lynwood, Ill.) scored after Jared Zueck (Jr.-Williamsville, Ill.) singled and the right fielder misplayed the ball, allowing Smith to come in. Nelcicio York (Jr.-St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles) came up to the plate as the potential tying run with one out, but hit a line drive right at first baseman Eddie Sobczak, who caught the ball and then tagged out Zueck for the double play.
Justin DeVoe (Sr.-Newton, Iowa) took the loss, getting off to a rocky start and battling to get through 6 1/3 innings, allowing six runs (two earned) on nine hits while striking out nine. Curt Barnes (Sr.-Lone Tree, Iowa) came on in the seventh and pitched 2 2/3 hitless innings to finish the game.
Micah Spencer pitched a complete game and earned the win for Penn, moving to 9-0 this season. The game was played at William Penn but was a home game for the Tigers. It was the third meeting this season between the teams and the third game that was moved from IWC to WPU due to poor field conditions.
The Tigers face Waldorf College on Wednesday for a doubleheader at the Mapleleaf Community Athletic Complex starting at 2 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 WPU 6 IWC 4
