The Dordt University baseball team dropped a pair of games to Dakota Wesleyan this afternoon at Drake Field in Mitchell, S.D. The Defenders lost game one 9-2 and were defeated 14-4 in game two; Dordt finished the four-game set with a 1-3 record.Â
Dordt is now 12-14 this season and DWU improves to 4-16.
Game One: 9-2 loss
The Defenders were limited to three hits in falling to Dakota Wesleyan 9-2 in game one.
Logan Templeton went 1-for-3 with and drove in a run with an RBI single while both
Matthew McMillian and
Joseph Schlesselman added one hit each.Â
Dakot Wesleyan scored one run in the first, three in the second and one more in the third inning to open a 5-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third. Carter Brown dealt the big blow with a three-run home run, his first of the season. Dordt scored both its runs in the home half of the third, the first off an RBI groundout by
Carson Belcher and the second on the single hit by Templeton.Â
With the Defenders still down 5-2, DWU put the game away with a four-run sixth inning as Thomas Dutton hit a grand slam for his first home run of the season.Â
JT Fitzgibbons (0-1) allowed nine hits and five runs in 5.1 innings to get the loss.Â
Dakota Wesleyan totaled 14 hits, including a pair of home runs and three doubles. Joseph Tharaldson led the Tigers at the plate with a 3-for-4 performance. Alexander Mizsak (1-2) pitched the complete game and struck out five.Â
Game Two: 14-4 loss
Dordt pushed a run across in the bottom of the second inning on back-to-back doubles hit by
Matthew McMillian and D.J. Kerr. Dakota Wesleyan grabbed the lead for good with two runs in the top of the third after a double by Lane Darrow and a single from Joseph Tharaldson.Â
The teams combined for seven runs in in the fifth inning, four by the Tigers and three by Dordt. Dexter Payne, Caleb Breur and Ean Laird hit three consecutive RBI doubles to give DWU a 6-1 lead. Dordt responded with three runs of its own in the bottom of the inning as
Drew Oreskes and McMillian both drove in a run and
Jimmy Twombly stole home.Â
Leading 6-4, DWU scored a pair of insurance runs in the seventh and put the game away with six more in the ninth inning, four coming on a grand slam by Diego Jirau.
Caleb Beard, McMillian and Schlesselman paced the Defenders with two hits each.
Jared Hughes (2-4) gave up 10 hits and eight runs in seven innings for the loss.Â
Dakota Wesleyan out-hit the Defenders14-9 and was led by Ean Larid with three hits while four other Tigers had two hits each. Nathaniel Huisken (1-4) earned his first win of the season, striking out eight in five innnings, and Dexter Payne pitched four scoreless innings of relief to earn the save.
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