TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn opened its home schedule at Falley Field on Sunday afternoon with a doubleheader sweep of Central Oklahoma, winning 4-3 in 10-innings in the first game and 10-5 to complete the daily sweep. The Ichabods will look for the series sweep on Monday with first pitch at 1 p.m.
Game one:
Coooper Carlgren began the day on the mound retiring the Bronchos (9-4, 0-2 MIAA) in six pitches. Three straight singles in the bottom of the first for Washburn (5-5, 2-0 MIAA) scored a run as Cash Jay drove in Jett Buck with a base knock.
The score remained that way until the visitors half of the fourth inning. A single was followed by a double to begin the inning, Washburn threw out the lead runner with Easton Bruce tossing to Buck and then to Jay with a tag at third base. A two-out single scored a run to tie the game at one. In the bottom half of the inning the Ichabods got the run back as Darian Duhon blasted his first home run of the year to left field.
A pair of walks put two on with nobody out in the sixth, with the lead moving to third on an error. A sacrifice bunt scored one and a single into right field brought in another to put Central Oklahoma up 3-2.
The score remained that way after back-to-back scoreless innings on the mound from Caden Bressler. In the bottom of the eighth, Easton Bruce led off with a solo shot to left field to tie the game. Both sides would only combine for one more hit the rest of the way as Bressler and Griffin Huiatt combined for a scoreless top of the ninth.
Huiatt stayed on in the tenth and retired the Bronchos in order with one strikeout. Bruce led off with a walk in the home half of the inning and moved to third on a sac bunt along with a throwing error. Two batters later Connor Scott lifted a fly ball to center field for a sacrifice fly, scoring Bruce to walk off the game 4-3.
Washburn out-hit Central Oklahoma 10-4 in the game while working five walks. The Ichabod pitching staff combined to strike out four with six walks. Cooper Carlgren went five innings with three strikeouts and allowed just one run. Bressler went 3.1 and Huiatt finished with 1.2 scoreless to earn the win.
At the plate Hayden Priest went 3-4 while Easton Bruce and Darian Duhon each drove in one with solo blasts.
Game two:
After a scoreless top of the first inning from Caleb Lunnon the Ichabods got on the board right away. Jett Buck doubled with one out and was moved to third. An error in the field brought him in to score. A walk and hit batter loaded the bases which were cleared after a fly ball into center field was not caught and cleared the bases to make it 4-0 after one inning.
Connor Scott led off the next inning for Washburn with a walk. Payton McHarg, Buck and Hayden Priest each singled, with Buck and Priest driving in one each, extending the lead to 6-0. Two batters later Easton Bruce blasted his second home run of the day, clearing the bases.
A single led off the top of the third for Central Oklahoma. The runner was able to come around and score, unearned, after an error in the field to put one run on the board. After a scoreless inning in the fourth for Lunnon he ended his day with a pair of walks in the top of the fifth. Another walk and a single scored one run. A second came around on an RBI groundout to cut the deficit to 9-3.
The Bronchos continued to work one at a time, scoring one more in the sixth on a walk, sac bunt and single up the middle. Washburn was able to get the run back in the bottom of the inning with a single from Bruce and double by Darian Duhon to put two on. Jackson Mervosh brought Bruce home with an RBI groundout.
A solo home run in the top of the seventh for Central Oklahoma completed the scoring on the day for both sides. Kai Bennett finished out the seventh and tossed a scoreless eighth, stranding three runners on the bases with a strikeout to end the inning. Max Clark took over on the mound and wrapped up the game with a scoreless frame.
Washburn out-hit the Bronchos 11-6, while both teams committed a pair of errors in the game. The Ichabod pitching staff fanned 13 batters while giving up 10 walks and the Ichabods worked seven free passes.
Caleb Lunnon worked four innings, striking out four and allowing just one run. Kai Bennett struck out five in two innings of work and allowed one run.
At the plate Easton Bruce went 2-2 with three RBI and reached base all five times with three walks. Jett Buck went 3-5 while Hayden Priest and Jackson Mervosh each had multi-hit games.
