William Penn Upended Twice by Park in Home-Opening Twinbill

Oskaloosa--The Statesmen baseball team was not able to take advantage of playing on its home field as it dropped the first two games of its weekend series against Heart of America Athletic Conference foe Park Friday.

WPU (8-10, 1-5 Heart) fell by scores of 7-6 and 21-6.  The teams will meet up again Saturday at Statesmen Ballpark for another doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.

The hosts, who posted a 15-9 edge in hits in the opener, trailed 4-0 entering the bottom of the fifth inning.  They finally broke through in that set of at-bats as Zach Otten (Sr., Mapleton, Ill., Business Management) singled home Abraham Arroyo (Grad., Camuy, P.R., Master's of Sports Management), and Ened Perez (So., Orocovis, P.R., Kinesiology) scored on a single by Keoni Young (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev., Exercise Science).

Arroyo then lifted a home run over the left field fence in the bottom of the sixth to knot the contest at 4-4.

The Pirates answered with three runs in the top of the seventh, but the navy and gold did not go down without a fight.  Jagger Mitchell (Jr., Rock Springs, Wyo., Business Management) slipped a double down the left field line to plate Young, while Mitchell pulled his squad within one on a Pirate wild pitch.

The Statesmen would eventually load the pads later in the inning, but failed to bring in the tying run.  The bases-loaded struggles were unfortunately a problem all game as WPU also packed the pads in the third, fourth, and fifth frames, but were denied any runs in those situations.

Eight William Penn players tallied a hit with Arroyo finishing 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored.  Otten matched his teammate with four hits, going a perfect 4-for-4 at the dish.

Aiden North (So., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Industrial Technology) added a pair of hits, while Mitchell and Bradley Soto (Jr., Davenport, Fla., Business Management) both recorded a base knock and a walk.

Abel Madueno (Sr., San Bernardino, Calif., Business Management) experienced a bit of everything in six innings as the starter.  He permitted four runs on eight hits, but also struck out 12 (four walks).

The nightcap was a forgettable affair as the Pirates (10-6, 6-3 Heart) put the game away with 11 runs in the third inning and eight more in the fifth.

William Penn, which was outhit 17-8, eventually got on the board with two fifth-inning runs.  Carlos Herrera (Jr., Bronx, N.Y., Kinesiology) singled home Justin Knudson (So., San Jose, Calif., Sports Management), while Hector Dominguez (Jr., Fontana, Calif., Exercise Science) came in on a sacrifice fly by North.

Four more runs were tallied in the seventh with Arroyo's one-bagger plating Dominguez, while Arroyo and Young touched home plate via a single from Logan Bialek (Jr., South Elgin, Ill., Exercise Science).

Arroyo had another strong outing at the plate at 3-for-4, while Dominguez had a pair of hits.

Froymer Ortega (Sr., Valencia, Venezuela, Wellness and Recreation) struck out one PU batter in a scoreless seventh frame.