McPHERSON, Kan. – On Saturday, the Southwestern College baseball squad went on the road to face off with the (RV) Bulldogs of McPherson College. Head coach Chris Dawson's former employer showed why they are considered a contender for the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) title in 2023, handing the Moundbuilders a pair of losses to open up their conference slate. The nine-inning first game ended in a 9-4 loss, while the latter bout was a shutout, as SC fell 7-0 in the seven-frame tilt.

After being retired in the top of the first, Southwestern was tagged for five runs early on in the opening inning of the day, as an RBI single, a two-run double, a sacrifice fly to center and a run-scoring groundout to third base brought home the tallies.

In the next half-inning, the Builders grabbed a run, as Josh Crabtree scored on a single through the left side by Andrew Brown. That would be all the squad would get, though, as they ultimately stranded runners at second and third.

A bit of a lull occurred over the next pair of innings, but McPherson would grab that one run back in the bottom of the fourth. A RBI fielder's choice brought home the Bulldogs' sixth run of the afternoon.

Quickly erasing the Bulldog tally, Joseph Finder drilled a solo homer on a frozen rope off the scoreboard in straightaway right field. That cut the advantage to four runs at 6-2 for McPherson entering the bottom of the fifth. Unfortunately, a run-scoring triple by the Bulldogs negated the solo bomb, making it a 7-2 game entering the sixth.

After two-and-a-half scoreless innings, McPherson would grab a two-run double down the right-field line in the bottom of the eighth inning to extend their lead to seven runs at 9-2. The Builders would do their best to cut into the lead in the top half of the ninth, scoring a pair of runs on two RBI singles by Marcus Burton and Jo. Crabtree. Finder and London Penland scored on the hits, respectively, but that would not be near enough, as SC fell 9-4 in game one.

A long first inning from McPherson, after the Builders were retired in the top half, scratched across just a single tally for the Bulldogs. The run came across on a passed ball, unfortunately for the Moundbuilders.

With very little going on for the Builder offense, MC would add on with one run in the bottom of the third. A run-scoring bloop single into center field pushed across the squad's second run of the game. It was a 2-0 Builder deficit after three full frames.

After keeping the tilt close for the next couple of stanzas, McPherson separated themselves from SC in the fifth inning, when a three-run homerun was blasted down the left-field line to more than double the lead. The 5-0 score looked menacing for Southwestern, as they had just two more cracks at the bat.

The Bulldogs would grab two more in the bottom of the sixth, while the Moundbuilder offense was hapless against the McPherson staff in game two, resulting in a 7-0 loss in the seven-inning affair.

Southwestern was able to outhit the Bulldogs in the first battle, holding an 11-9 advantage, but did not tally the extra-base hit totals that MC was able to. Just one of the Builders' 11 hits was of the extra-base variety, as Finder's solo round-tripper claimed that regard. Ten singles were hit, but were hardly ever strung together. Finder led the squad with three hits in the game, while Penland and Burton added a pair. Four Moundbuilders had one hit, as Jo. Crabtree, Tyler Seboldt, Will Johannsen, and Brown provided those knocks.

The latter bout saw only two different Builder hitters record base hits. Penland had two of the team's three hits, as both were singles, and Seboldt was responsible for the remaining hit.

Jacob Crabtree was on the bump in game one, and after a difficult first inning, settled in to provide five innings of work. He ended up allowing seven runs on six hits for SC in the loss. Reyden Rull followed him with three innings of work and allowed three hits and two runs.

Game number two saw Gannon Dow provide 4.1 innings on the hill, as he allowed five earned runs on eight hits and struck out six. He walked five Bulldog hitters, as well. Dylan Navarrette came into a tough situation and provided 0.2 innings of scoreless work for the Builders, while Jared Stoffel was tagged with a pair of runs in the one inning that he pitched. He struck out one and walked one in his appearance.

Southwestern (6-12, 0-2 KCAC) will be back in McPherson tomorrow, looking to salvage the finale of the three-game conference set to open the KCAC schedule in the 2023 season.

--buildersports.com--