PITTSBURG, Kan. -- Washburn split a doubleheader with No. 19 Pittsburg State on Friday afternoon into the evening, taking game one of the twin bill 9-6 before falling in the nightcap 17-16. The Ichabods will return home for a final non-conference game against Northwestern Oklahoma State on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Game one: Washburn 9, Pittsburg State 6
After a slow start the day before the Ichabod offense got started right away in the first, with singles from Hayden Priest and Jackson Mervosh putting two on base. A third single up the middle from Darian Duhon scored a run. In the bottom of the inning Pittsburg State got two on with a walk and hit batter. A single scored one, followed by an error on a stolen base bringing around another. An RBI groundout made it 3-1 after the unearned run.
Washburn got one back in the third beginning with a leadoff single from Payton McHarg. He moved to second before scoring on another knock from Mervosh. Caden Bressler settled in on the mound, throwing a scoreless fourth inning. In the top of the fifth the Ichabods tied the ballgame up with Mervosh doubling into left center to score McHarg for a second time.
In the home half of the inning the Gorillas re-gained the advantage with a solo home run. With two outs in the sixth Washburn got singles from Owen Laessig and Chase Littrell. McHarg swung the Ichabods in front with a three-run blast to right making it 6-4. Both sides traded solo homers over the next inning, first from the Gorillas in the bottom of the inning and next with a leadoff blast by Jett Buck in the seventh.
Pittsburg State continued to match, scoring one run on two hits in the bottom of the seventh to pull within one. Another pair of singles by Laessig and Littrell put two on in the eighth. Laessig would score on a sacrifice fly by McHarg with Littrell scoring on an error in the field by the Gorillas to make it 9-6.
Kai Bennett and Griffin Huiatt combined to throw a scoreless bottom of the eighth. Huiatt stayed on in the ninth and faced the minimum to finish out game one.
Washburn out-hit Pittsburg State 14-8 in the contest, led by three hits by both Jackson Mervosh and Owen Laessig. From the leadoff spot Payton McHarg drove in four. Caden Bressler earned the win on the mound throwing 6.0 innings and allowing four earned while Huiatt picked up his second save of the season.
Game two: Pittsburg State 17, Washburn 16
The Washburn (22-23, 15-17 MIAA) offense stayed hot to start game two with singles from McHarg and Priest to lead the game off. Two batters later Mervosh made it 3-0 with a three-run blast to straight away center. In the second inning Laessig added to the total with a solo shot while Caleb Lunnon kept Pittsburg State off the scoreboard for the first two innings.
Buck led off the third inning with another solo home run, he was followed by one-out hits from Duhon and Connor Scott. Blake Scott walked to load the bases, two runners would come around to score on a double by Laessig into left center. Littrell capped off the five-run inning with his first career home run, making it a 9-0 ballgame.
The Gorillas put up three runs in the home half of the inning with an RBI double and two-run home run. The next time up they cut two more runs off the lead with another two-run homer.
As the Ichabods went to the bullpen in the fifth Pittsburg State added one in the inning. In the sixth they were able to string together a pair of two-out singles, scoring three runs to tie the game at nine.
After the first two batters went down for Washburn in the seventh Blake Scott walked and Laessig slashed a single. Trevor McCollum laced a double down the right field line, scoring both. He was quickly brought home on a round-tripper from McHarg to right. Priest and Buck put two more back on base with singles and Mervosh stayed hot, blasting a three-run homer to left, extending the lead to 16-9.
A walk and a home run began the bottom of the seventh for Pittsburg State. The Ichabods were able to limit the damage with an inning-ending double play. In the eighth they chipped away again, scoring one to bring the deficit down to four.
After the Ichabods went down in order in the top of the ninth the first three batters for the Gorillas reached, scoring one run. The bases were loaded on a walk with a second walk scoring a run. A wild pitch made it a one-run game and a two-out single walked it off for Pittsburg State 17-16.
Washburn out-hit the Gorillas 20-18 in the game, with the home squad committing the only two errors in the game. A 11-3 walk advantage aided PSU.
The Ichabods had six players with multi-hit games, along with also hitting six home runs. Darian Duhon led with four hits, Jackson Mervosh had two home runs, driving in six while Owen Laessig, Payton McHarg and Hayden Priest all had three hits.
