WINFIELD, Kan. – On Friday afternoon, the Southwestern College baseball team was back on the diamond for their home opener at Broadway Sports Complex. The tilt was a tit for tat affair, as the lead changed hands on a pair of occasions and the game was tied at two other points. In the end, the difference was the seven unforced defensive errors by the Moundbuilder fielders that surrendered a grand total of nine unearned runs in the bout. The squad would fall to the Statesmen by a final tally of 15-9.

"We need to find a way to put together a complete game," said head coach Chris Dawson. "We are close, but our mistakes are beating us. Our pitchers today did everything we challenged them to do, and our offense was good for the first five innings, but we need to be more consistent at the plate and on defense."

Scoring began in the very first half inning, as William Penn jumped in front with an RBI single in the opening frame. Southwestern would be foiled in their opportunity to tie, as Zach Boone had a two-out double, but was stranded at third after a stolen base. The Statesmen would increase their advantage with an infield single with runners at the corners. Then, the same situation resulted in a double steal during the following at-bat, allowing the runner from third to race home to extend the WPU lead to 3-0.

The Builders mounted their first successful offensive inning of the matchup in the bottom of the second, as they received a leadoff double to right-center field by Marcus Burton, followed by a walk from Will Johannsen to put two on with no outs. Then, the big blow came from Tyler Seboldt, who crushed an elevated 2-2 pitch over the center-field fence to tie the game at 3-3. After a pair of strikeouts, the Moundbuilders put together a two-out rally with a walk from London Penland, a single from Joseph Finder to send Penland to third, and a subsequent double steal to push across Southwestern's fourth run of the inning. They would lead 4-3 after two full stanzas.

Innings number four, five and six were wild ones for both sides, as the two squads combined for 15 runs over the three frames. The Statesmen would start the party with three runs in the top of the fourth inning. All three runs were of the unearned variety, as the first three batters of the inning reached base via throwing errors by Moundbuilder infielders. The third of those throwing errors allowed the first two to score and the batter to saunter into third base. Then, an RBI single to left-center field by the next WPU hitter made it a three-run frame in which the Statesmen grabbed a 6-4 lead.

The SC offense would combat that output by scoring a single run in the bottom half, receiving a solo homerun from Chris Weatherford to cut the deficit to one run at 6-5. William Penn's answer was swift, however, as they grabbed three more tallies in the fifth frame. They committed a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt bid that allowed each runner to reach their intended bag, loading the bases for the following hitter. He would reach base on a fielder's choice, which brought home a run for William Penn. Then, a run-scoring single through the left side tallied their second run of the frame, while a dropped strikeout would follow where the play was made to retire the batter at first, but the runner at third took advantage and crossed the plate before the return throw could be completed. At that point, SC trailed 9-5 halfway through the battle.

The Builders would answer again with their own four-run inning in the bottom of the fifth. They got a leadoff single from Boone, before a flyout and subsequent single from Burton, which was followed by a double steal by Boone and Burton to move them both into scoring position with just one out. Johannsen would come through with a sacrifice fly to right field to give the Moundbuilders a run, before Sesang Yun was able to reach on a throwing miscue by the Statesmen's second baseman. As a result, the throw went wide of the first baseman and allowed Burton to score on the play and Seboldt to advance to third. With men at second and third, Weatherford hit a towering but catchable fly ball to right field which ended up in the swirling winter air and floated over the tip of the camped right fielder's glove. Both Yun and Seboldt came in to score, which tied the game a 9-9 after five.

After SC was able to retire the first batter in the sixth inning, a double and an RBI single gave William Penn a 10-9 advantage. Then, the second out was recorded on a tapper back to the mound, as the Builder needed just one more out to end the frame with juts one run allowed. Unfortunately, the following at-bat resulted in a double error by the Moundbuilder second baseman in which he fumbled the original grounder and then tried to throw the runner out to no avail. Each runner advanced an extra bag on the play, including one baserunner who came home from second. Then, a pair of doubles to follow each brought home a run to push WPU back to a four-run, 13-9 lead.

Southwestern's bats would not produce much for the remainder of the bout, while the SC pitching staff held the Statesmen in check for most of the remainder of the game, sans a two-run homer that was hit in the top of the ninth. That bomb came after a fielding error to start the inning and two quick outs to follow, making the homerun count for a pair of unearned runs to add to the WPU tally. It was a 15-9 final score in the visitors' favor.

A total of 10 hits were supplied by the Builder offense, which is not a bad total in the slightest. Boone once again led the Moundbuilder offense with a 3-for-5 day at the dish, including a pair of doubles and a single. Burton also had multiple hits in the tilt, going 2-for-5 on the afternoon with a double and two runs scored. Five other Moundbuilders had hits, but none were as big as the Seboldt three-run jack in the second inning. Weatherford also had a homerun, with his being of the solo variety, while Finder, Johannsen and Josh Crabtree added single base hits to the team's box score.

Nathan Simmons got the ball for the first home game of the 2023 season, but could not tame the William Penn lineup. He allowed nine hits in his five innings of work, but only allowed five earned runs. Nine total runs scored while he was on the bump, but four of them were as a result of errors in the field. He was relieved in the sixth inning by Reyden Rull, who did what he needed to do to get out of the inning with just one run allowed, but a defensive mistake led to three additional unearned runs being charged to him. He could not end the frame, but Braden Ash had a clean 1.1 innings of work with a pair of punchouts to back him up. Dylan Navarrette finished the day by pitching the final two stanzas. He allowed two unearned runs, which came across on a two-run homer.

"Today was definitely a tough one to drop," Dawson continued, "but we are looking forward to Sunday's games."

The Builders (0-5) will have a day off on Saturday before they face the Hastings College Broncos on Sunday afternoon at Broadway Sports Complex. First pitch of the first game of the doubleheader is set for 12 p.m. Tomorrow, the William Penn and Hastings squads will face off in a pair of battles at Broadway starting at 12 p.m. as part of the three-team weekend setup.

--buildersports.com--