The baseball program at Shawnee State fell by 16-3 and 12-4 margins to No. 3-ranked Cumberlands (Ky.) Friday evening, but Kyle Wisniewski and Jacob Kline continued to build on strong seasons -- and careers -- at Shawnee State throughout the day.
Overall, Wisniewski broke a nine-year single-season strikeout record, while Kline hammered two additional home runs to inch closer to the single-season home run record in a Mid-South Conference doubleheader at Branch Rickey Park in Portsmouth.
Wisniewski, who struck out five batters through his first three innings of work, notched strikeout No. 82 on the year in the top half of the fourth inning of play by getting Candido Encarnacion to strike out swinging, tying the nine-year old record set by Austin Dunfee in 2012. Wisniewski then broke the mark with his 83rd K in the fifth inning, nailing Rolando Rodriguez looking to claim the record for himself.
In Game 1, Wisniewski ultimately struck out eight batters in six innings of work to push his strikeout margin to 84.
As for Kline, the junior infielder continued to rake.
After hitting a two-run blast in the opening inning of Game 1, Kline homered again in the sixth inning in Game 2 to bump up his ever-growing home run count to 17 and his RBI count to an even 60 in the doubleheader.
The Akron native now sits just two homers away from a four-way tie with Brad Beale, Brian Harrison and Brandon Doss for the most home runs in a single season in school history -- 19 -- which is a mark that the latter trio each set in 2000. He went 3-for-8 at the plate overall in addition to the two home runs, two RBI and two runs scored Friday.
Along with the duo, Levi Jones' two-run homer in the third inning gave Shawnee State a 3-1 lead through three innings of work in Game 1, while Javier Santiago added a two-run double off of the right field wall in Game 2 for a pair of RBI of his own. Jones went 2-for-6 with the Game 1 homer, a double, two RBI and a run scored between the two contests.
Jones, along with Seth Wills and Danny McGuire, were honored following the games. Wills pitched an effective inning in Game 2 while McGuire notched a base knock in his final at-bat after facing an early count deficit. Howie Rodriguez walked and scored a run in Game 1 and obtained a base knock, stole a base and scored a run in Game 2 while Damion Coleman went 1-for-3 with an RBI in Game 2 to round out Friday's efforts.
Shawnee State (20-22) is scheduled to play its final game of the regular season against Cumberlands (Ky.) Saturday, weather permitting.
