MARION, Ind. -- After a struggle getting games played at the beginning of the week the Indiana Wesleyan University baseball team made the most of their opportunity at the end of the week.
The Wildcats swept Marian (Ind.) University on the road last night and picked up a sweep of Grace (Ind.) College today at Wildcat Field. IWU won 2-1 in 8 innings in the opener and followed with a 6-2 win in the nightcap.
Pitching dominated play in the first game as Justin Sovine went 7.0 strong innings for the Wildcats. Cody Jones earned the victory with a perfect 8th inning for his first win of the season.
Indiana Wesleyan (9-9-1, 4-0 CL) cracked the scoreboard first in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jacob Murphy hit a double to deep left-center field and he scored when Quinn Nofziger singled up the middle. It seemed the one run might hold for Indiana Wesleyan as Sovine was pitching so well.
Grace responded in the next half inning as a leadoff single came around to score. After a steal of second and a wild pitch, a ground ball to second was able to get the tying run across. The ball was not hit hard enough for Murphy to turn the inning ending double play.
Neither team would earn a hit in their next two innings, which led to the bottom of the 8th for Indiana Wesleyan. Nofziger nearly ended the game with a shot to right-center but the ball fell short of the fence and he rounded the bases for a triple. After a short fly out to right could not score Nofziger, Craig Dollens hit one in a nearly identical place. Nofziger tagged at third and came charging down the line towards home. He avoided the catcher’s tag but missed the plate. Nofziger quickly got back up and beat the Lancer catcher to home plate for the 2-1 victory.
Besides scoring the winning run, Nofziger accounted for over half of the Wildcat hits in the opener. He was 4-for-4 at the plate and also had one RBI and a stolen base. Murphy finished 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Indiana Wesleyan outhit Grace 7-to-4.
Sovine allowed one run on four hits in 7.0 innings. He walked three and struck out two in the no-decision.
Jacob Worrell started game two for Indiana Wesleyan and struggled in the first inning. The first two batters reached on walks and went to second and third on wild pitches. He would strikeout two Lancers but a two-out single plated two runs for the early Grace 2-0 lead.
The Wildcats responded in the home half of the first. Brice Davis cut the deficit in half with a RBI single to shallow right-center field. With two outs and one on, Javier Aponte singled and Preston Fugita walked to load the bases. Peter Engle then found a hole on the right side of the infield to score Davis and courtesy runner Trey Shigley for a 3-2 lead.
In the third inning, Aponte took first base on a fielder’s choice but there were two outs. Shigley came in to run and stole second and then scored on a Fugita single up the middle for a 4-2 lead.
The Wildcats built a four run advantage with two more scores in the fifth inning. Fugita drove in Shigley and pinch runner Caleb Birkey with a double to give IWU the 6-2 cushion.
After a shaky first inning, Worrell settled down. He did not allow another run in his final four innings on the mound. Worrell finished with a line of two runs on three hits with five strikeouts over 5.0 innings of work. Matt Blankenship and Shane Bryant each pitched one inning of scoreless relief.
Fugita finished 2-for-3 with two RBI while Engle was 1-for-3 with two RBI.
Indiana Wesleyan and Grace are scheduled to play one more doubleheader on Tuesday. It begins at 2 p.m. in Winona Lake, Indiana.
