Kokomo, Indiana – Shawnee State baseball dropped the first game of the Shawnee State Baseball Bonanza Classic on Saturday afternoon, falling to William Penn (Iowa) 6-5.
William Penn would open the scoring with four runs in the top of the third inning. Julian Villegas would double with runners at the corner, driving in Nick Worcester for the Statesmen's first run. Isaiah Almanza would then single up the middle to score Nathan Ball. Seth Reisbeck would single with two outs to drive in Villegas, and a bases loaded walk from RaHeim Hampton would score pinch runner Cael Lambe to extend the William Penn lead to 4-0.
Shawnee State would rally for two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Blake Marshall (JR/Lexington, Kentucky) would walk to lead off the inning, and Christian Helton (JR/Lexington, Kentucky) would single to put two on with nobody out. Marshall would move to third on a fielder's choice by Seth Clement (FR/Kissimmee, Florida). Sam Gerhold (SR/Shelton, Washington) would follow that with a chopper toward shortstop, scoring Marshall with an infield single. Dalton Phillips (JR/Hastings, Michigan) would load the bases with a single, and after Levi Jones (JR/Millersburg, Ohio) popped out, JT Boggs (SR/South Shore, Kentucky) would draw a bases loaded walk to score Clement and cut the Statesmen lead to 4-2.
William Penn would score one run in the seventh and eighth innings. Aaron Petrash would drive in Ball in the seventh to extend the lead to 5-2. Worcester would drive in Fabio Espinoza on a squeeze bunt in the eighth to restore the Statesmen's four-run lead, putting Shawnee State in a 6-2 hole.
The Bears would rally in the eight for three runs. Casey Claflin (SR/Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) and Cameron Broughton (FR/Clermont, Florida) would both be hit by a pitch with one out to put two men on base. Marshall would move the runners over one base with a groundout, and a tough grounder to third by Christian Helton would drive in pinch runner Anthony Nichols (JR/Fargo, North Dakota) to cut the lead to three. Clement would then double to right-center, scoring Broughton and Helton to cut the lead to 6-5.
After a scoreless top of the ninth, Shawnee State would try to rally to tie the game. Levi Jones would single off Statesmen reliever Reisbeck with one out. After JT Boggs struck out, Casey Claflin would single to put two on with two out. However, Broughton would strike out swinging on an eight-pitch at-bat to seal the 6-5 win for William Penn.
Tom Przekwas picked up the win for William Penn, allowing three runs on three hits in three innings of release. Brady Knittel (SR/West Portsmouth, Ohio) would take the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits in six innings of work. Seth Reisbeck would get the save with an inning and a third of scoreless relief.
The loss drops Shawnee State to 3-4 on the season. William Penn improved to 3-4.
Shawnee State and William Penn will play two more on Sunday, February 25 on day two of the Shawnee State Baseball Bonanza Classic. First pitch of game one is set for 10:00am.
