WAVERLY, Iowa – Wartburg baseball continues its homestand with a three-game series against St. Olaf College to close the week and then a home doubleheader against Martin Luther College on Monday to begin next week.
Updated Schedule
Saturday, Mar. 19 – 3:00 p.m. –
Waverly, Iowa –
Harms Stadium at Hertel Field
Wartburg Knights (6-6, 0-0 A-R-C) vs St. Olaf Oles (0-0, 0-0)
Watch Live
Sunday, Mar. 20 – 1:00 p.m. –
Waverly, Iowa –
Harms Stadium at Hertel Field
DH Game 1: Wartburg Knights (6-6, 0-0 A-R-C) vs St. Olaf Oles (0-0, 0-0)
Watch Live
Sunday, Mar. 20 – Following Game 1 –
Waverly, Iowa – Harms Stadium at Hertel Field
DH Game 2: Wartburg Knights (6-6, 0-0 A-R-C) vs St. Olaf Oles (0-0, 0-0)
Watch Live
Monday, Mar. 21 – 4:00 p.m. –
Waverly, Iowa –
Harms Stadium at Hertel Field
DH Game 1: Wartburg Knights (6-6, 0-0 A-R-C) vs Martin Luther Knights (0-8, 0-0)
Watch Live
Monday, Mar. 21 – Folowing Game 1 –
Waverly, Iowa – Harms Stadium at Hertel Field
DH Game 2: Wartburg Knights (6-6, 0-0 A-R-C) vs Martin Luther Knights (0-8, 0-0)
Watch Live
Last Time Out
The Orange & Black were in action earlier this week as they split a home doubleheader with Saint Mary's University (Minn.) on Tuesday, Mar. 15.
Game 1: Wartburg 6, Saint Mary's 4
After a scoreless top of the first, Wartburg struck first with a
Zach Wesolowski homerun to centerfield after singles from
Eliot Jurgensen and
Max Goodhue to make it 3-0 early. In the next frame Saint Mary's answered with a homer of its own to left field, making the score 3-2 after two innings played.
The Cardinals hit another homerun in the top of the third and added another run after an error to take their first lead of the game (4-3). The Knights defense did not give up another run the rest of the game following the error.
Jurgensen tied the game at 4 after his double caused an error in the outfield that moved him to third and
Will Armstrong in to score. Goodhue hit an RBI single, his second single of the day, to give the Knights the lead back 5-4. Wartburg added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth after Jurgensen hit into a fielders choice that scored
Caleb Andrews.
Joey Cierro got the start on the mound for the Orange & Black today and earned the win to move his starting record to 2-1 this season. In four innings pitched the junior right hander recorded seven strikeouts and allowed just four hits.
Aaron Eybers pitched the last three innings in relief of Cierro and earned his first save of the season. The closer allowed four hits and no runs on the bump for the Knights.
Game 2: Wartburg 2, Saint Mary's 3
Both teams started the nightcap with scoreless at bats, but this time it was SMU who struck first with two runs in the second inning after an error and a balk brought in runs. The Knights were able to get hits, but unable to bring them in with three runners left on over the next two innings.
Wartburg settled down defensively after the second inning and only one hit was allowed from the third inning through the fifth. The Cardinals added an insurance run in the top of the sixth to make the score 3-0.
The Orange & Black's bats woke up in the top of the sixth after a
Zach Walton double scored Wesolowski for the first run. Walton scored later in the inning after
Ben DeKruyf made it a one score game with an RBI single to right field. The comeback fell short as the Cardinals held on for a 3-2 win after a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh for the Knights.
Dreyton LaVeine got the start in game two and finished five innings in the loss. The sophomore pitcher struck out four batters and walked none on the mound today.
Cael Boehmer pitched the final two innings and recorded three strikeouts and allowed just two hits to finish the game.
Season Leaders
Walton leads the Knights offense with a batting average of .414 and 16 RBI through 12 games. The sophomore has drawn a team-high 13 walks and five hit-by-pitches, while only striking out five times. Walton is also tied for a team-high in extra-base hits with six (4 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR).
Both Goodhue and Wesolowski also have six extra-base hits each to lead the Knights offense. Goodhue is tied with three others with four doubles this season but leads the team with two triples. Wesolowski has batted in 13 runs and is leading the team with two homeruns.
Dylan Gotto has made three appearances on the mound and he leads all Knights pitchers with 23 strikeouts this season.
Darren Kilpatrick is not far behind with 20 strikeouts in just 13.2 innings pitched.
LaVeine has made two starts for the Knights and has an ERA of 1.20, which is a team-high among starting pitchers. Eybers has an ERA of 0.87 with five appearances and over 10 innings pitched as the Knights' closer.
St. Olaf & Martin Luther
St. Olaf is making its season debut on Saturday as the three-game series will mark the first competition of the 2022 season for the Oles.
Martin Luther played in Florida from Friday, Mar. 4 to Monday, Mar. 7 and were defeated in all eight games played with four different teams.
Series History
The Oles and Knights have not matched up in baseball since 2016, where they split a doubleheader. The all-time series is split right down the middle at 12 wins apiece over 24 total games dating back to 2005. Wartburg has won five of the last six meetings with St. Olaf.
Martin Luther College and Wartburg have only met three times in program history and two of the meetings came recently during the 2020 season. The Orange & Black have won all three meetings, including the first matchup back in 1999.
For more information on Wartburg Athletics, follow the Knights on Twitter, Instagram, like us on Facebook, or sign up for text updates/score alerts from the rainedout.net text-messaging system.
