BOLIVAR, Mo. – A six-run fifth inning helped Washburn Baseball pull away in its weekend opener for an 10-3 win over Southwest Baptist on Thursday, April 7.
WU (20-12, 15-7 MIAA) crossed the 20-win threshold for the 30th time in program history with the win, putting a together an eight-hit effort on the day offensively as the pitching staff struck out 11 Bearcats.
Parker Gibson went 2-for-4 on the day with four RBI, a triple and a double while
Kyle Carnahan was 2-for-5 with his ninth home run of the season and four RBI.
Zane Mapes was hit by a pitch three times and WU as a team was plunked six times.
Nick Silva (7-0) was once again steady in the win, going five complete innings with just one run allowed, striking out five while scattering seven hits and three walks.
Jaren Kutzke entered in relief to throw the next two innings, giving up a hit and a walk with three strikeouts.
Greg Mason allowed one run in the eighth and
Josh Ramirez gave up one run in the ninth with two strikeouts.
Scoreless through two, Washburn used two hits and a walk in the third to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Behymer singled to left field to start the inning and advanced to second on a passed ball before Soicher drew a walk. After Mapes' sacrifice bunt put runners in scoring position, Gibson came through with a triple down the right field line that found the corner and emptied the bases.
The bottom of the third saw SBU cut the deficit to one (2-1) before Washburn erupted for six runs in the fifth. With one out, Soicher doubled and Mapes was hit by a pitch before Gibson doubled to empty the bases for the second time on the day, making it 4-1. From there,
Riley Krane was hit by a pitch and both runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch during Carnahan's at-bat before the senior third baseman took a 2-2 pitch over the left center wall for three more Ichabod runs.
David Gauntt was plunked by a pitch to continue the rally, and after moving to third on Barkley's double, Gauntt came home off
Tanner Triggs' sacrifice fly for the eighth run of the day.
A sacrifice fly in the eighth gave SBU one run, but Washburn struck back with two more in the ninth to go up eight. Gibson was hit by a pitch with one out in the inning after moved to third on Krane's single. From there, Gibson swiped home on a double steal that moved Krane into scoring position, and Carnahan singled up the middle for his fourth RBI of the day to plate Krane. The final run of the day was scored in the ninth by SBU.
The series continues on Friday, April 8 with a 3 p.m., pitch from Meyer Sport Complex as WU looks to clinch its seventh MIAA series win of the season.
