WINFIELD, Kan. (CCCTigers.com) – The Tiger baseball team traveled to Winfield, KS for a four game set against Southwestern College for their first in-state contest of the season.
Game 1, W 3-0 (BOX SCORE)
Junior Nick Clayson earned the game 1 start after another solid start the previous weekend in New Mexico and this outing would be no different. Clayson got into a couple of jams early on but thrived off getting out of them both, including a strikeout with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 2nd inning to keep Southwestern off the scoreboard and ended up throwing 6 scoreless innings. The Tigers 2 early runs in the 1st from a Kurt Ippolito double and RBI fly out from Iker Muniz, as well as 1 more run in the top of the 7th is all that was needed as Terry Baker notched his first save of the season to close out a series opening Tiger win.
Game 2, W 6-4 (BOX SCORE)
The Southwestern offense got the bats going early in game 2, tagging Tristan Castner for 4 early runs in the first 2 innings which forced the Tigers to go to the bullpen early. The Tigers responded with and electric 3rd inning where a couple miscues from southwestern in the field and a wild pitched brought 3 runs home to cut the Southwestern lead to 4-3. This was followed by an RBI double by Bo Daniel that tied the game up at 4-4, swinging momentum the Tigers way. Freshman reliever Brayden Young threw 3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to set the table for a 2 RBI double from Braden Ulrich to put the Tigers up 6-4 for their first lead of the game. Senior Armando Aguilar then threw 2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to earn the win and close out an excellent comeback win for the Tigers to take a 2-0 series lead.
Game 3, 18-4 W (BOX SCORE)
Things clicked on all cylinders for the Tigers in game 3 beginning with 10 runs scored in the first 2 innings with homeruns from Iker Muniz, and Noel Aquino, as well as 3 RBI doubles and 3 RBI singles. In the 4th inning, Noel Aquino homered again followed by Kurt Ippolito’s 2nd homerun of the season to add onto a huge Tiger lead. Nick Julian threw 5 strong innings for the Tigers giving up just 2 runs and the Tiger bullpen took care of business afterwards, letting up only 2 runs in the final 2 innings. 4 more runs came across for the Tigers in the final inning including the first collegiate hit and first RBIs for freshman Jayden Lynch as the Tigers cruised to an 18-4 win and a series win.
Game 4, 17-8 loss (BOX SCORE)
The Tigers were unable to complete the sweep as things got out of hand for the first time in the series. They trailed only 5-3 going into the 5th inning fueled by a 2 run homerun by James Perales but southwestern erupted for 12 runs in the 5th inning fueled by several walks and 5 hits surrendered by the Tiger bullpen, including a grand slam in an inning that just spiraled far out of control. The Tigers made some noise in the final inning with an Austin Monge RBI double and a Braedon Ulrich grand-slam but the deficit was too much to overcome as Southwestern took game 4 to avoid a sweep.
The Tigers (6-5) who were supposed to have their home opener this weekend with a 3 team round robin against Dordt University and Peru State University, will now travel to Rogers, Arkansas to play these two teams at a neutral site on Friday and Saturday due to weather conditions in McPherson.
