No. 4 IWU Hands No. 2 USF First Loss of CL Tournament
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Indiana Wesleyan (IN) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 1 |
|
Saint Francis (Ind.) | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
MARION, Ind. - The No. 2-seeded Cougars of the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) baseball team fell to No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan by a final score of 6-5 in day three of the Crossroads League Baseball Tournament on Friday, May 2.
The Wildcats grabbed an early 3-0 lead in Friday night's game with a fly-out to right field and a two-run home run in the top of the first inning.
With two outs and bases loaded, sophomore third baseman AJ Patton stepped into the box and hit a grand slam, and his first collegiate home run put the Cougars on top 4-3 in the bottom of the second inning.
IWU responded with a homer of their own, followed by an RBI single in the top of the fifth inning to retake a two-run lead.
An RBI single from Callan Stauffer scored Eli Riley to cut Indiana Wesleyan's lead to 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Wildcats managed to hold off the Cougars' rally as Indiana Wesleyan won Friday night's game to advance to play the top-seeded Trojans of Taylor University on Saturday.
The Cougars had four hits and four walks against IWU, with Patton going 1-3 at the plate with a homer, four RBI and a walk. Stauffer also hit 1-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Brenden Lytle had a stolen base for USF.
Gage Smith took the loss on the mound after throwing four innings, giving up six hits and recording four strikeouts.
Hunter Frost and Cameron Niedens combined for two strikeouts while holding IWU scoreless in five innings of relief.
Up next, USF baseball (29-22) will face No. 6 Huntington University on Saturday, May 3 at 11:00 a.m.
Cougar fans can stay updated on all events and recaps with USF Athletics by visiting saintfranciscougars.com.
