OSKALOOSA — The Statesmen baseball team earned its first four-game series sweep since March 2023 when it finished its second doubleheader against Graceland with two more victories Saturday.
WPU (11-8, 2-0) triumphed over the Yellowjackets by scores of 2-1 and 9-8.
WPU 2 – GU 1
The hosts were able to win a pitching battle hold off a Yellowjackets lineup with a complete game by Anthony Estrada (Jr., Santa Clarita, Calif., Political Science)
William Penn scored its first run of the day when Keoni Young (Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., Exercise Science) hit an RBI-single through the right side and McGwire Jephson (Jr., Rigby, Idaho, Business Management) scored an unearned run.
No runs were scored again until the bottom of the fourth as Aiden North (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Industrial Technology) sent an RBI-triple to left-center field and Ened Perez (Jr., Orocovis, P.R., Kinesiology) made it home to put William Penn up 2-0.
Graceland scored its sole run in the top of the fifth inning before both pitchers held the other side scoreless until the end.
North went 2-for-3 in the contest with a single and a triple.
Estrada’s complete game allowed only one run on six hits, while striking out two.
WPU 9 – GU 8
The Yellowjackets struck first with a single run in the top of the first frame to start the final game of the series.
Jephson made it home on an RBI-single by Shane Mailloux (So., Santee, Calif., Business Management) to tie the game at 1-1.
Sawyer Hardman (Jr., American Fork, Utah, Kinesiology) followed the scoring with a three-run homer as Mailloux and Logan Bialek (Jr., South Elgin, Ill., Exercise Science) sauntered home.
Abraham Arroyo (Grad., Camuy, P.R., Master’s of Sports Management) scored the final run of the inning when Perez hit an RBI-single.
The navy and gold were the next to score when North hit a single-run shot to make the game 6-1.
GU had a massive seven run in the top of the fourth to take an 8-6 lead.
It was the bottom of the fifth inning when Young sent a 3-run homer over the left-field fence to give William Penn the game winning 9-8 lead.
Connor Gaddis (Fr., Kansas City, Mo., Exercise Science) and the Statesmen defense held off the Graceland bats and secured the sweep.
Jephson, North, Mailloux, Hardman, and Leland Riley II (Sr., Victorville, Calif., Kinesiology) each had two hits in the game. While Young and Hardman each had three RBIs.
Gaddis had three shutout innings in the win while giving up three hits and grabbing a strikeout.
“Great weekend for our guys after the 4 wins.” Head Coach Mike Laird said, “The 1st game Saturday was a pitcher’s dual with Anthony Estrada throwing an absolute gem allowing 0 earned runs in the complete game. He had terrific command. Offensively we struggled as Graceland’s lefty held us to only 5 hits. Game 2 saw considerably more scoring as we racked up 16 hits. Ironically, we left the bases loaded 3 times with 1 or no outs. We just about blew the 2nd game after reaching a 6 to 1 lead. Neiman started well but ran out of gas in the 4th. Freshman lefty, Connor Gaddis came on to finish the 5th, 6th, and 7th. Gaddis did well as he faced 12 batters, allowing only 2 hits to pick up the win. North did well handling the staff today and our infield was sharp. Pineda played a great centerfield for the weekend, also.”
