Fulton, Mo 3/13/2023- The Westminster College baseball team capped off their series against the Grinnell College Pioneers with a Sunday doubleheader. The Blue Jays would win game one, 1-0. The Pioneers would rally in the ninth inning of game two to win the game 11-8. The Pioneers improve to 3-1 on the season and the Blue Jays fall to 5-6.
Game One: Box Score
Freshman pitcher Derek Archer (St. Charles, Mo / Francis Howell North) started the game for the Blue Jays and earned his first career win after pitching a gem. He threw a complete game one-hitter and struck out nine batters.
The Blue Jays scored their one run in the bottom of the fourth. There would be two outs in the inning and Payton Whitehead (Belleville, Il. / Belleville West) would hit a double to right field. Skyler Bushey (Saint Albans, Vt / Bellows Free Academy) would drive him in with a double to right of his own to put the Blue Jays on top 1-0.
Game Two: Box Score
Ben Kennebeck (St. Louis, MO / St. Louis University High) would get the start in game two. He would pitch four innings, and give up three hits and one run. The run would come in the top of the second as the Pioneers would score after the Blue Jays' defense committed an error with the bases loaded.
The Blue Jays would tie the game up in the bottom of the third when Whitehead hit a home run to left field. They would score three more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Jason Pesold (Arnold, Mo / St. Pius X) would reach first base on an error and then steal second. Steven Diaz (Highland, Il. / Highland) would hit a single to right to score Pesold. Troy Romero (Trophy Club, TX / Byron Nelson) and Whitehead would both draw walks to load the bases. Bushey stepped to the plate and delivered a two-RBI single to left scoring Diaz and Romero to take a 4-1 lead.
The Jays would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the eighth after Bushey hit a two-run home run scoring himself and Whitehead who drew a walk to get on base.
Westminster would head to the top of the ninth inning with a 6-1 lead. The Pioneers started the inning with a leadoff single. The next batter would hit a single to center field to put runners on first and second. The Blue Jays would walk the next batter to load the bases. Grinnell would score a run an passed ball. The next Pioneer batter would walk to load the bases one more time. Their next batter would hit a single to right to score another run. They would score again on a wild pitch to make it 6-4. The Jays would walk another batter to load the bases again. Then disaster would strike, and Grinnell would hit a grand slam to take an 8-6 lead. The next Pioneer batter would get hit by a pitch. They would then hit a two-run home run to extend their lead to 10-6.
The Blue Jays would load the bases again after walking a batter and then hitting two batters back to back. They would then walk in a run to make it 11-6. Westminster would get the next batter out to finally get out of the inning.
The game headed to the bottom of the ninth with the Blue Jays trailing by five runs. Pesold would try to start a rally by singling to right. Coltin Green (St. Anthony, Mo. / St. Elizabeth) would hit into a fielder's choice with Pesold getting thrown out at second base. Matt Lukins (Clark, Mo / Rock Bridge) drew a walk to put runners on first and second. Diaz would also walk to load the bases. Quin Smith (Lee's Summit, Mo. / Rockhurst) singled to left to score Green. Whitehead would walk to bring in Lukins and keep the bases loaded with one out in the inning. The Blue Jays would be unable to score any more runs and lost the game 11-8.
The Blue Jays will be back in action next weekend when they open up SLIAC conference play against Blackburn College. They will play a doubleheader on Saturday, March 18th with the first pitch scheduled for 1:00 PM.
