PEOSTA — The William Penn baseball team was unable to capture the final two games of the weekend against Clarke in Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday.
WPU (21-18, 9-15) fell by scores of 13-4 and 14-5.
The Statesmen scored first in the opener, tallying two runs in the first inning. A hit by pitch and a walk, followed by a wild pitch, put runners on second and third for the navy and gold. Abraham Arroyo (So., Camuy, P.R., Wellness and Recreation) then delivered a sacrifice fly to right field to bring in the first run. One batter latter, Nathan Jessell (Jr., Napa, Calif., Sociology) came through with an RBI single to give the Statesmen an early 2-0 advantage.
Unfortunately, CU responded with 10 combined runs in the following three frames to take a 10-2 lead heading into the fifth inning. The home team added three more runs to its total in the sixth inning to extend its lead to 13-2.
After not scoring any runs since the first inning, the navy and gold pushed two runs across in the seventh, but it was not enough to rally back.
Arroyo led the way for the Statesmen with two hits and an RBI, while Jessell and Nick George (Jr., Sarina, Ontario, Sociology) both finished with one hit and one RBI.
Clarke got in the score column first in the second outing, tallying four runs in the first. After being held scoreless for three innings, William Penn finally got on the board in the fourth as Jean got on with a lead-off single. He then advanced to second on a groundout and to third on a wild pitch. Arroyo eventually singled up the middle to bring Jean in to score. Arroyo then stole second and advanced to third on a fly out, before scoring on an error by the second baseman.
The fifth inning saw the Pride post five more runs, pushing their edge to 9-2.
WPU responded with three runs in the top of the sixth inning as Jessell, who got on with a single, came around to score off an error. Blair Speas (So., O’Fallon, Mo., Undecided) then came through with a two-run double.
CU unfortunately tallied five more runs in the bottom of the sixth to close the door on the navy and gold.
Speas finished the contest with two hits and two RBIs, while Arroyo tallied one hit and one RBI.
“Toughest series this year.” Head Coach Mike Laird said. “We did not pitch well and Clarke took full advantage of that. Defensively we struggled at third base.”
Next Up: The Statesmen will return to Oskaloosa next Saturday to face off against Peru State in a Heart doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
