Kokomo, Indiana – Shawnee State baseball split a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon, defeating William Penn (Iowa) 5-2 in game one, but falling to the Statesmen 19-5 in game two at Kokomo Municipal Stadium.
The Bears would fall behind early in game one. With two outs in the top of the second, Nick Worcester would triple into the left-center field gap. Cael Lambe would drive him in with a bloop double down the right field line, giving William Penn a 1-0 lead after two innings.
Shawnee State would rally in the bottom of the third. Danny McGuire (FR/Cleveland, Ohio) would lead the inning off with a single to right-center. Zach Straley (FR/Uniontown, Ohio) would then reach on a bunt base hit up the first base line, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. After Christian Helton (JR/Lexington, Kentucky) bunted the runners over, Seth Clement (FR/Kissimmee, Florida) would lift a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring McGuire. Straley would advance to third on the throw from Tanner Hamblin, and would score when RaHeim Hampton's throw went wild, giving SSU a 2-1 lead.
The Bears would score again in the bottom of the fourth. Dalton Phillips (JR/Hastings, Michigan) would lead off with a single, and steal second. JT Boggs (SR/South Shore, Kentucky)' infield single to first would move Phillips over to third. Phillips would score one batter later on a fielder's choice by Casey Claflin (SR/Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio). The Bears would load the bases later in the inning, but fail to push any further runs across.
However, the Bears would score twice more in the bottom of the fifth. Sam Gerhold (SR/Shelton, Washington) would single with one out, and after a Phillips strikeout, Levi Jones (JR/Millersburg, Ohio) would single down the right field line to put runners at the corners with two outs. Gerhold would score on a wild pitch from William Penn starter Wilson Lorenzo. JT Boggs would then single down the right field line, scoring Jones and giving Shawnee State a 5-1 lead. William Penn would push another run across in the top of the seventh off SSU reliever Tyler Arthur (SR/Morehead, Kentucky), but the Bears would hold on to get the win.
Kyle Wisniewski (FR/Strongsville, Ohio) would pick up the win for Shawnee State. Wisniewski would throw six innings, allowing only one run on two hits, with five strikeouts on an efficient 73 pitches. Wilson Lorenzo took the loss, allowing five runs on eight hits in five innings, striking out six.
Game two would start out well for Shawnee State, as the Bears plated four in the bottom of the second inning. JT Boggs would single to start the inning, and would score on Danny McGuire's triple to right-center. Blake Marshall (JR/Lexington, Kentucky) would then single in McGuire, and Christian Helton would get SSU's fourth straight hit, singling to put runners on first and second with no outs. After a strikeout and a fielder's choice, Joseph Campos (FR/Orlando, Florida) would single to drive in Marshall and Seth Clement to give Shawnee State a 4-0 lead.
However, the wheels would fall off, as the Bears' pitching would struggle. SSU allowed three runs in the top of the third, and five runs in the top of the fourth as William Penn would take an 8-4 lead. JT Boggs would hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Dalton Phillips in the fifth, but William Penn would blow the game open with seven runs in the sixth and four runs in the seventh to win 19-5.
Austin Neff got the win, allowing five runs on eight hits in six innings pitched. Zach Straley took the loss, allowing seven runs on four hits in three and two-thirds innings.
Shawnee State's record moves to 4-5 with the doubleheader split. William Penn also end up at 4-5 on the year.
Shawnee State baseball have a short turnaround, as the Bears will travel to Chillicothe, Ohio to take on Kentucky Christian on a neutral field. First pitch from VA Memorial Stadium is set for 2:00pm.
