Baker Baseball Falls in Road Series at Grand View

DES MOINES, Iowa - Baker baseball dropped all four games of its weather-adjusted series at Grand View on Sunday and Monday in the Wildcats' second straight conference road trip.

The Wildcats ran into a buzzsaw of a lineup from the Vikings with the hosts scoring double-digit runs in three of the four games of the series. Brennan Johnson drove in two runs in both of the first two games for BU and Camden Karlin tallied six doubles overall and bookended his trip with a pair of 4-for-4 outings.

Game 1 - GVU 24, BU 4
Grand View opened the series by scoring 24 runs in game one, putting up eight runs in the bottom of the first after Baker scored on an error in the top half.

The Vikings totaled 16 runs between the final four innings, while BU scored the rest of its runs in the top of the seventh. Karlin's second double of the game drove in Jackson Truman before Johnson clubbed his second home run of the season.

Game 2 - GVU 12, BU 4
GVU carried its offensive firepower immediately into game two, scoring 11 runs in the first two innings, and the Wildcats once again notched three of their four runs in the seventh.

In the top of the second, Eli Young came home on an errant throw from GVU to make it a 6-1 deficit for BU. Johnson plated the first two runs in the seventh with a double to right center before racing home on a sac fly from Young.

Game 3 - GVU 8, BU 7
On Monday, Baker took a quick three-run lead in the opening frame, but then fell behind after another eight-run inning from the home dugout. The Wildcats clawed back to make it a one-run game in the fifth, but couldn't complete the comeback.

A couple of bases-loaded walks sandwiched around an RBI single from Truman made it a 3-0 advantage for BU in the top of the first. The Wildcats tacked on another couple of runs in the second to get within three with a balk bringing Johnson across and Tyson Wallace driving in the other run on a single to left field.

As pitcher Brayden Youkon tamed the GVU lineup with over five innings of scoreless relief, back-to-back RBI doubles from Karlin and Javier Aguirre in the fifth swung the momentum over to Baker's side for the first time in the series. The Vikings were able to hang on though and take game three, 8-7.

Game 4 - GVU 14, BU 5
For the third time in the series, the Wildcats were able to chalk up runs in the first inning to take an initial lead, but a seven-run second from the Vikings paved the way for their series sweep.

Wallace and Kolden Howerton each knocked in a run with RBI singles in the top of the first before GVU tied it up in the bottom half of the first.

Seth Brown hit his second home run of the spring with a solo shot in the third. Karlin capped his series with one final double that led to two runs coming across in the fourth. Relief pitcher Gage Callaghan threw two scoreless innings and had a couple of strikeouts.

After back-to-back road series, Baker returns to Sauder Field this weekend with a matchup against (RV) MidAmerica Nazarene. First pitch for both days has been moved up by an hour to a 12 p.m. start with the series kicking off on Friday, March 21 and concluding on Saturday, March 22 in Baldwin City.

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