Griffins Earn Series Win Over Tigers

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa.—The Fontbonne University baseball team earned a series win over Iowa Wesleyan on Friday afternoon. The team dropped game two of the series 5-4 (8 inn.), but closed it out with an 11-7 victory.

Game One

Score: Iowa Wesleyan 5, Fontbonne 4

Location: Mount Pleasant, Iowa

Records: Iowa Wesleyan (8-23-1; 6-13 SLIAC), Fontbonne (20-9; 7-6 SLIAC)

How It Happened

In the bottom of the first, it was the Tigers taking a 3-0 lead over the Griffins. However, the team cut into the deficit in the next half inning.

Michael Puckett, Jr., and Matt Tossick led off with singles. After a sacrifice-bunt, Matt Manint doubled to right and cleared the bases to make it a 3-2 contest.

The Tigers got one of those runs back in the second, but the Griffins stayed right with them in the third. Gus Purschke led off with a walk and he raced around to score on Braeden Dobbs' RBI triple.

In the fifth, with Dobbs on first and two outs, Puckett, Jr., hit a double to center to plate Dobbs and tie the game at 4-4.

It remained a 4-4 game up until the bottom of the eighth. With the bases loaded and one out, Jack De Burgh ended the outing in walk-off fashion with an RBI single to give the Tigers the 5-4 win.

Fontbonne Notables

• Manint led the offense going 2-for-4 with two RBI.
• The 4-5 hitters in Dobbs and Puckett, Jr., combined to go 4-for-9 with two runs scored and two RBI.
• Mike Jacobson took the loss out of the pen allowing one run on two hits in his 1.1 innings pitched.

Iowa Wesleyan Notables

• Mitchell Wilcox improved to 1-2 on the season after pitching 2.1 innings of shutout ball.
• Offensively, Chazz Brown and De burgh had a hit and RBI each.

Game Two

Score: Fontbonne 11, Iowa Wesleyan 7

Location: Mount Pleasant, Iowa

Records: Fontbonne (21-9; 8-6 SLIAC), Iowa Wesleyan (8-24-1; 6-14 SLIAC)

How It Happened

In the top of the first, the Griffins grabbed a 1-0 lead on Purschke's second homer on the year to left. After Iowa Wesleyan plated three runs in the bottom half to take the lead, the Griffins responded in the third.

Penrod and Dobbs started the inning off with consecutive singles. Penrod was able to touch home on Puckett, Jr., RBI double. Two batters later, Tyler Grimes' RBI groundout scored Dobbs from third to tie the game. Manint kept swinging a hot bat with an RBI single and that scored Puckett, Jr., to give Fontbonne a 4-3 lead.

The team extended its lead out to 6-3 in the fifth on RBI from Grimes and Manint. However, in the bottom half, the Tigers scored four runs on two hits to regain a 7-6 advantage.

The Griffins, though answered in the sixth and took the lead back for good. With Purschke on second, Penrod singled to right to score Purschke and tie the game.

After a strikeout, Puckett, Jr., came through once more with an RBI double. From there, the Griffins tacked on three more runs in the seventh for the 11-7 victory.

Fontbonne Notables

• The Griffins scattered 17 hits in the win and all nine hitters had at least one hit.
• Manint led going 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI.
• Penrod had three hits, two runs scored, and two RBI. Puckett, Jr., totaled two hits and two RBI as well.
• Jonathan Hoevelmann, Purschke, and Dobbs had two hits each.
• Jake Jump improved to 2-0 out of the pen going 1.2 innings and striking out three for his second win on the year.

Iowa Wesleyan Notables

• After picking up the win in game one, Wilcox fell to 1-3 in game two after allowing three runs (two earned) in his 1.0 inning pitched.
• Joe Mitchell and Jack De burgh finished with two RBI each.

Up Next

• The Griffins return home next Tuesday when they'll square off against MacMurray. First-pitch at 1 p.m.

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