ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Washburn Baseball opened MIAA play on Friday, Feb. 26 with a 6-3 win over Missouri Western in 10 innings.
Mike Hefferan took the start, throwing five complete innings with four strikeouts, allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks.
Jaren Kutzke entered and relief and threw the next 3.2 innings, striking out three with one run allowed before exiting in the ninth.
Zach Linquist (1-1) earned the win by closing the ninth and pitching a scoreless 10th, striking out two.
Offensively, Washburn had 13 hits, including four extra base efforts, as a team.
David Gauntt hit his second home run of the season and finished 2-for-5, while
Kyle Carnahan,
Lance Barkley,
Payton Soicher and
Cole Gardner also had two hits. Soicher was 2-for-3 on the day with an RBI, a double and two walks. Carnahan and Gardner also had doubles for WU while
Zane Mapes and Barkley accounted for one RBI each.
Washburn got things going in the first with a two-run home run from Gauntt, as the senior catcher drove a pitch over the left field fence to bring home
Kyle Carnahan, who reached on a double in the previous at-bat.
MWSU got one back in the first off an RBI double, and tied things at 2-2 when Nick Gawley's infield single pushed another Griffon across the plate.
WU threatened in the fourth, as Soicher and Mapes had back-to-back one-out singles, but things remained all square until the fifth when WU took back the lead (3-2) off Barkley's RBI single.
Parker Gibson walked to start the inning, and moved to second when Gauntt was plunked with one out. Barkley then drove a 1-2 pitch into left field and Gibson came around to score from second.
The Griffons looked to tie it up again in the bottom of the fifth, putting two runners on with just one out, but Hefferan and the Ichabods got out of the jam with two fly outs to end the threat.
Washburn looked to extend the lead with baserunners in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings but couldn't push an insurance run home. That came into play in the ninth as MWSU tied it at 3-3 off a two-out RBI single, but the Ichabods scored three in the 10th inning to win the series opener.
Gauntt and Carnahan opened the extra frame with back-to-back singles, and as Barkley reached on a fielder's choice, Carnahan came home from third to score on an MWSU error. Later in the inning with two outs and runners on first (Triggs) and second (Barkley), Soicher doubled to right center to score Barkley and push Triggs to third, before WU closed its scoring with a sacrifice fly from Mapes.
Linquist hit a batter to open the bottom of the 10th, but got two strikeouts as part of a shut down effort to clinch the win.
The Ichabods continue the series with game two on Saturday, Feb. 27. First pitch from Griffon Baseball Field is 2 p.m.
