DAVENPORT, Fla. – Wartburg baseball opened the season at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Sunday and Monday, Feb. 27-28. The Knights dropped a doubleheader to the Milwaukee School of Engineering on Sunday and bounced back with a 14-1 win over Waynesburg University on Monday.
Game Summaries
2/27 - MSOE 2 Wartburg 0 F/7
After three scoreless innings, the Raiders scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Those runs ended up being the only runs scored in the rest of the game and MSOE held on for a 2-0 win in game one.
Dylan Gotto got the first start of the season on the mound for the Orange & Black and pitched a complete game. Gotto recorded 10 strikeouts and allowed only five hits for a total of two earned runs.
Will Armstrong led the Knights' offense with two of the teams three hits on the day.
Eliot Jurgensen recorded the only stolen base of the game for Wartburg after being hit by a pitch in the bottom of the first.
2/27 - MSOE 6 Wartburg 1 F/7
In game two, the Raiders scored early with a run in the bottom of the first after a single. Wartburg responded in the top of the second inning by tying the game at one apiece. After the bases were walked loaded,
Keaton Gray reached base on error which then brought in
Zach Walton to tie it up.
MSOE went on to score five runs straight to close the sweep over Wartburg.
Darren Kilpatrick started the game on the bump and recorded five strikeouts in 3.2 innings pitched. Both
Aaron Eybers and
Malcolm Newell also appeared on the mound for the Orange & Black.
2/28 – Wartburg 14 Waynesburg 1 F/7
The Knights jumped on Waynesburg early by getting out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Jurgensen scored the first run from a balk and then Zach Welnowski brought in two runs with the first homerun of the season.
The Orange & Black scored four more in the second inning after a Gray two-run shot followed by a double later in the inning from
Carter Stubitz that brought in two runs. In the third inning, Welnowski scored from a wild pitch to make the score 7-0. Both
Ben DeKruyf and Stubitz scored from sacrifice flies in the fourth from
Caleb Andrews and
Bryce Butler.
A groundout in the bottom of the fourth scored the lone run for the Yellowjackets making the score 10-1. Later in the sixth inning,
Max Goodhue doubled to left and brought in three runs to make the score 13-1.
Bryce Butler brought in the last run of the game with a sacrifice flyout in the top of the seventh innning to close out the 14-1 win.
Joey Ciero started at pitcher and earned the win. Ciero pitched six innings and struck out five while only giving up one hit.
Next Time Out
The Knights are back in action tomorrow, Mar. 1 when they face Saint Vincent College at 10 a.m.
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