Box Score WICHITA, Kan. – The Southwestern College baseball team was back on the diamond on Tuesday afternoon in Wichita for a battle with the Newman University Jets. The non-conference midweek tilt against the NCAA Division II foe was looking good in the top of the first, when the Builders scored five runs, but a 12-4 swing in the other direction over the final eight innings handed SC just their second loss in their last seven contests, 12-9.
Stanza number one was a wild one for the Builders, as they benefitted massively from an incredibly poor start to the battle for the Newman starter. He walked five of the first seven hitters that he faced, and allowed a pair of singles to go along with them. He was pulled from the game after allowing four runs with the bases loaded and no outs recorded. Josh Crabtree had an RBI walk in the inning, as did both Trevor Abitia and Noah Prince. Sandwiched in-between those walks was a run-scoring single by Will Johannsen. Another run would score in the frame on a double-play ball to make it 5-0 Builders entering the bottom half. Newman would tally a single run on a sacrifice fly to center field, making it 5-1.
Quickly, Newman began to cut into the deficit, as the bottom of the second frame was capped by a two-run blast to left field to make it just a 5-3 advantage. Things would not stop there, though, as the Jets hit back-to-back solo homers to lead off the bottom of the third. Then, after tying the score, they took the lead with a run-scoring single and a two-run base hit. All told, they picked up five runs in the frame to make it 8-5 in their favor.
Southwestern did rally back in the top of the fourth, tying the score via a two-run homer from Joseph Finder and a London Penland run on a wild pitch. Penland had stolen both second and third base after being hit by a pitch. It was all knotted up at 8-8 in the fourth. Newman would swiftly respond with back-to-back doubles to start the bottom half of the inning and retake the lead. It was a 9-8 Jets lead after four full.
Newman would only further separate themselves from the Moundbuilders, as the fifth inning consisted of an RBI groundout and a two-run dinger surrendered to the Jets by SC pitching. With the three tallies, the hosts were up by a more comfortable four-run margin, 12-8.
The Builders would score one more time in the bout in the eighth inning on a Jo. Crabtree sacrifice fly, but it was nowhere near enough to pull off the comeback victory.
Southwestern was certainly aided by the five-run first inning that as essentially gifted to them on a silver platter. Two of the squad's seven hits came in the first inning, which means that they tallied just five hits over the last eight innings of play. Sesang Yun had two hits in the battle (both singles), and was the only Moundbuilder with multiple knocks. Finder, Penland, Johannsen, Chris Weatherford and Andrew Brown were responsible for the remaining hits in the game by the Builders. Finder's two-run homer was the lone extra-base hit of the day for the team.
It was a tough debut for Jared Stoffel, who pitched 2.1 innings and allowed eight runs on eight hits. Three of those hits were round-trippers. Reyden Rull was tabbed with the loss, as he entered the game with an 8-8 tie on the scoreboard and allowed just a single run over 1.2 innings. Dylan Navarrette also pitched, allowing three runs on three hits over a pair of innings. Jo. Crabtree ended the day with two shutout innings in his first appearance in 2023.
The loss will lead the Moundbuilders (5-7) into an anticipated weekend set at Mid America Christian University on Friday, Feb. 24 and Saturday, Feb. 25. The series in Oklahoma City will consist of a pair of doubleheaders, one on each day. Friday's battles begin at 1 p.m., while Saturday will start at 12 p.m.
--buildersports.com--