FULTON, Mo. - Westminster baseball took two of the first three games against Iowa Wesleyan in a Saturday doubleheader, highlighted by a walk-off hit from Adam Mundle in game one and a two-hitter from Ryan Clavin in game two.
Westminster baseball improves to 10-8 on the year with the wins and 5-2 in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.
The Blue Jays got off to a slow start on offense and defense in game one, giving up a walk with the bases loaded in the first inning to go down 1-0 to the Tigers. Iowa Wesleyan then blasted a three-run homerun in the fourth to take the 4-0 win.
It wasn't until the bottom of the fourth that Westminster was able to get on the board after a Will Stonecipher single to left field with the bases loaded, scoring Mason Price and Ryan Klimkiewicz, to cut the Tiger lead in half.
Just when the Blue Jays had found their groove offensively, the Tigers drove in a run with a single up the middle, followed by another three-run blast to take the 8-2 lead.
Westminster began to chip away at the lead, adding two runs on RBI from Price and Stonecipher in the fifth to cut the Tiger lead to four.
In the sixth, Clavin hit a single to right field to score two more runs, followed by a Zach Eisenreich single up the middle to pull the Blue Jays back within one run. Nick Bohlmann came up with the big hit in the seventh to tie the game, scoring Mundle, to force extra innings in the regulation seven-inning game.
Sean Markley and Braden Beasley combined to close out the top of the eighth inning, giving Westminster a shot at a walk-off in the bottom of the inning.
Price and Klimkiewicz recorded the first two outs of the inning, but Eisenreich hit a single up the middle and stole second to put the winning run in scoring position. Zach Stiles walked, putting Mundle at the plate to end the game for Westminster. He delivered with a single to right field, scoring Eisenreich, for his second walk-off hit of the year.
Skyler Dickneite started on the mound for Westminster, pitching five innings and giving up eight runs on 12 hits. Markley pitched 2.2 shutout innings for Westminster, and Beasley closed the game out for his first win of the year.
In game two, Clavin took the mound to start the game. He pitched two shutout innings before giving up one of his two hits allowed in the third on a Tiger single to put Iowa Wesleyan on top 1-0.
After struggling to find their bats in game two and being shut out for four innings, Clavin took matters into his own hands and hit a three-run homerun, his fourth of the year and 24th RBI to lead the squad. The three runs would be the only Blue Jays runs of the game, but thanks to Clavin's outing, it was all they would need, taking the game 3-1.
Clavin took the win to improve to 2-2 on the season, pitching all seven innings and giving up one run on two hits, striking out four.
The Blue Jays go for the series sweep Sunday at noon.
