TOPEKA, Kan. – Washburn baseball held on for the 8-6 victory over Concordia St. Paul in the Ichabods' home opener Saturday afternoon. Washburn will continue the series on Sunday after with a doubleheader starting at noon.
Concordia-St. Paul (0-1) got the scoring started in the top of the second as Washburn struggled with pitching control and walked the first two batters and a pair of wild pitches advanced the runners. The second run was scored on a steal of home.
Cale Savage led off the bottom of the second and cut the deficit in half on the first pitch of his at bat as he sent the ball over the fence in left center.
Washburn (3-7) leveled the score in the home half of the third as
Shane Morrow got things started with a walk and move up to third on a single by
Cal Watkins.
Easton Bruce brought the run in with a sacrifice fly to center field.
The score stayed knotted up at 2-all until the Ichabods broke the tie with four runs on three hits in the fifth inning. With one out, Morrow hit his first home run in a Washburn uniform with a solo shot to left field. Watkins followed that up with a triple to left field and then beat the throw home on a fielder's choice hit by
Trey Adams. Bruce doubled down the right field line and
Cale Savage loaded the bases after getting hit by a pitch.
Andrew Paulsey picked up an RBI with a five-pitch walk and
Otto Jones drove in Bruce with a sac fly to make it 6-2 in favor of Washburn.
Washburn added two more runs on three hits in the seventh.
Caden Bressler and
Connor Scott hit back-to-back singles through the left side with two outs and then Morrow was issued a walk on four-straight pitches. Watkins brought two runs in with a double down the left field line to push the lead to 8-2.
The Washburn pitchers left two Concordia-St. Paul runners stranded on base in the seventh and eighth innings without allowing a run cross home plate.
The Golden Bears made some noise in the ninth inning and scored four runs on three hits to trim the Washburn lead down to two, 8-6. With one out and runners on the corners, Bressler moved from third base to the bump and got the final two outs on strikeouts to close the door.
The Ichabods out hit the Golden Bears, 10-7, with five of their hits going for extra bases. Watkins finished the afternoon 3-4 with a walk and was a home run shy of the cycle. He drove in two runs and scored once. Morrow was 1-2 with a homer, two walks, and scored twice. Adams, Bruce, and Savage all had one hit, one RBI, and one run scored.
Casey Steward earned his first win of the season, going six innings and allowing just two runs on three hits and four walks while striking out nine.
Cal Leonard worked a scoreless seventh.
Mickey Coyne surrendered only a walk and hit in his eighth inning of work. Bressler was tabbed with the save after recording the last two outs to leave two runners stranded.
