WINFIELD, Kan. – A day of bonus home baseball was in the offing on Friday afternoon for the Southwestern College baseball team. Their previously scheduled road games in McPherson, Kan. at Central Christian College were moved to Broadway Sports Complex because of unplayable field conditions. They had two battles on Friday, as they hosted the CCC Tigers in their first battle and faced off in seven-inning battles with the Dordt University (Iowa) Defenders in game two.

"Game one was as solid of a game as we've played all year," said head coach Chris Dawson. "Jacob Crabtree was amazing on the mound for us, and it was good to see him rebound from his first start. In game two, we went up against a great arm at Dordt. We had to battle for those runs. We do need to be a little more consistent with runners in scoring position."

Southwestern started the tilt off with a bang in the bottom of the first, after keeping CCC off the board in the top of the inning. Chris Weatherford led things off with a first-pitch leadoff homerun to left-center field, which gave SC a quick 1-0 lead. Then, Joseph Finder smacked a double to the left-center gap, followed by a hit-by-pitch for London Penland. Marcus Burton would follow up with an RBI single into left field to extend the lead to 2-0. Penland would score later in the inning on a wild pitch to put Southwestern up 3-0 after one frame.

"Chris Weatherford got us started offensively," stated Dawson, "and we did not look back."

Early offense remained the modus operandi for the Builders in the second, as they held the Tigers in check yet again in the top of the second. The first hitter for SC in the inning, Will Johannsen, rapped a double down the left-field line. He was directly followed by Landon Tinsman, who lined a single into center field to drive in Johannsen for the Builders' fourth tally of the battle.

With a 4-0 lead, the Moundbuilders kept CCC at bay again in the third, but failed to score themselves for the first time in the bottom half. After holding the Tigers in the fourth, Southwestern added to their lead in the bottom portion of the stanza with a pair of runs. After a leadoff infield single from Trevor Abitia, the following two SC batters were retired, but a two-out double by Weatherford brought in the Builders' fifth run of the afternoon. Then, a Finder walk was followed by a run-scoring single to left by Penland to give SC a 6-0 advantage after four full.

More masterful pitching and defense from SC held CCC to nothing in the fifth, and the Builder offense took advantage by lengthening their lead again. After a pitching change to start the frame for the Tigers, they walked the first two hitter of the inning (Josh Crabtree and Tyler Seboldt). Central Christian did retire the next hitter, but then allowed a screaming two-RBI double to left field by Johannsen. It was his second two-bagger of the day to make the score 8-0. Johannsen would advance to third on a wild pitch, and then advance home on another one just a batter later. Southwestern led 9-0 after the fifth inning of play.

A litany of pinch-hitters made their mark on the game in the bottom of the sixth inning for the Moundbuilders, as Travis Popenhagen led off the frame with a double and was followed by singles from both Sesang Yun and David Morales. The knock off the bat of Morales drove home Popenhagen to make it a 10-0 SC lead. That would be the final tally put up by the Builders in the battle.

Central Christian would spoil Jacob Crabtree's shutout in the top of the sixth with a two-run homer, but he ended up putting together a solid complete-game victory in which he gave up just four hits and struck out nine CCC hitters. He earned a 10-2 win over the Tigers.

Game two of the day, which began at 5 p.m. against the Defenders of Dordt, Southwestern began the bout in a deep hole, as they afforded the Defenders a three spot in the top of the first. A two-run double and a sacrifice fly put Dordt up three before SC even had a chance at bat.

The Builders would be held off the scoreboard in the opening two innings, as the visitors would also not score in that span. The Builders finally scratched their first tally across in the bottom half of the third. Tinsman singled and subsequently advanced to second on a balk, which was followed by Weatherford reaching on an error by Dordt. Then, with runners at the corners, a pickoff throw to first went off the glove of the first baseman and allowed Tinsman to scamper home and Weatherford to advance to third base. Two strikeouts, and a groundout to follow, ended the frame at 3-1 in favor of the Defenders.

After holding Dordt again, Southwestern added another tally in the fourth frame. After back-to-back walks by Abitia and Johannsen, Tinsman knocked his second single of the game into left field to drive in Abitia from second. The score sat at just 3-2 in the Defenders' favor after the conclusion of the fourth inning.

Dordt would finally respond to the SC advances in the top of the fifth, when they rode an RBI single to a 4-2 lead. But Southwestern would score yet again in the bottom of the inning, as a Finder triple to right field was followed by a sac fly from Penland to once again make the lead just one run for the Defenders.

The wheels fell off the wagon for the Moundbuilder relievers in the top of the sixth, as they allowed three total runs on the stanza. Two RBI singles and a first and third steal play worked across those tallies to give DU the 7-3 lead that they ended up holding onto for the rest of the tilt.

The Builder squad had 18 total hits across the 14 innings of play, with 13 of those coming in the opening matchup against the Tigers. Just five hits were recorded in the team's loss to Dordt. The most glaring statistic that was not in Southwestern's favor in game two was the 15 strikeouts that they racked up as an offense. Tinsman's three-hit day between the two games combined was the top performance by an SC bat. He had three singles on the day in which he went 3-for-4 with two RBI's. Weatherford was the only Moundbuilder to blast a homer on Friday, as he tallied a 2-for-6 day overall with two RBI's. Johannsen also went 2-for-6 on the afternoon, as he had a pair of doubles and a pair of runs driven in. Penland (2), Burton (1) and Morales (1) were the remaining run producers for SC on Friday.

Jaxon Burns started game two against the Defenders, as he struggled early but was able to settle in. All three of his runs allowed came in the first inning. He ended up finishing four frames of work, while allowing six hits and a pair of walks. He struck out three batters in that period of time. Reyden Rull pitched one inning in relief and allowed a run on two hits with a trio of punchouts and a free pass. Dylan Navarrette was unable to keep the Defender bats at bay, as he gave up three runs on two hits. He picked up a strikeout before being replaced by Braden Ash, who gave up one hit over 0.2 innings. Jacob Woodburn pitched a three-up-three-down, scoreless top of the seventh with a strikeout.

"Overall, it was a good day," said Dawson, "even with the outcome from game two. We are looking forward to being back out there tomorrow!"

Southwestern (3-6) will be back at it again on Saturday, as the squad will play at 11 a.m. against the Defenders and 4 p.m. against the Tigers to finish the four-game weekend the squad will be looking to exit the two-day event with a 3-1 record after splitting the first day of competition between these three groups.

--buildersports.com--