TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Washburn Baseball saw its offense explode for 20 hits as it took down Northeastern State, 15-6, on Saturday, March 5 in game two of its weekend MIAA series.
Washburn (7-6, 3-2 MIAA) evened up the series with the win after dropping the opener yesterday, as seven Ichabods had multi-hit games and four had three (or more) hits.
Parker Gibson went 4-for-5 at the plate with a home run, a double, three RBI and two runs scored while
David Gauntt (three runs scored),
Lance Barkley and
Tanner Triggs all had three hits.
Payton Soicher went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double, a home run and three RBI.
Zane Mapes had two doubles as one of eight Ichabods to record an extra base it. Gauntt and Barkley added doubles to the group while Krane had a triple.
Nick Silva (2-0) had the win, tossing 5.2 innings with five runs allowed, striking out six RiverHawks to maintain his team-lead in strikeouts (21).
Jaren Kutzke gave up one run in 1.1 innings pitched, while
Greg Mason and
Zach Linquist had scoreless eighth and ninth innings to finish the game.
The Ichabods jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, using three consecutive two-out RBI hits from Gauntt (double),
Lance Barkley (single) and
Tanner Triggs (single).
NSU got one back in the bottom of the first, but Washburn pushed its lead to four in the top of the second with another two runs.
Zane Mapes and
Payton Soicher had back-to-back doubles for the Ichabods (Soicher's scored Mapes) and later in the inning with two outs,
Parker Gibson hit a single through the left side to score Soicher.
Up 5-2 after another RiverHawk run crossed in the third, Washburn took advantage of a leadoff triple from
Riley Krane in the top of the fifth after Gibson hit a sacrifice fly to center field.
Soicher picked up his second hit of the day in the bottom of the sixth and helped WU stretch its lead to six (8-2), blasting a two-run home run to right field to score
Cole Gardner (who reached on a single earlier in the inning).
NSU struck back with four in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 8-6, but Gibson took a 1-0 pitch deep to left in the first at-bat of the seventh for a solo home run.
The top of the eight saw Washburn add five more to stretch its lead to nine. Mapes hit his second double of the game to start the inning and came around to score off Krane's one-out single.
Gibson continued his hot hitting on the day with a single up the middle to push Krane to third, and after a pitching change for the RiverHawks, Carnahan hit a fly ball deep enough to right to score Krane and make it 12-6. Washburn scored two more as Gauntt, Barkley and Triggs all had singles to drive in Gibson (Barkley RBI) and Gauntt (Triggs RBI) to close the scoring.
The weekend finale is Sunday, March 6 at 12 p.m., from Thomas C. Rousey Field, as Washburn will look to win its second MIAA series of the season.
