The Wayne State College Men's Club Baseball team traveled up to La Crosse, Wisconsin for a three-game series against the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Eagles. The Wildcats went 1-2 in the series, pushing their overall record on the year to 4-6.
The Wildcats and Eagles played a doubleheader Saturday afternoon. In the first game, Wildcat pitchers Ryan Roesler and Zach Tesarek combined to throw a complete game shutout, as the Wildcats cruised to an 11-0 win. Roesler pitched five innings and struck out four hitters while allowing only three hits and one walk. Wayne State's bats were good for 14 hits and 11 runs. All of the team's runs came in the second and sixth inning. The Wildcats scored six runs in the second and five runs in the first. On top of his dominating pitching performance, Roesler was also the team's most productive hitter, with a team high four RBI's. Ethan McSpadden went 3-for-3 with an RBI. Other Wildcats who knocked in runs were Liandry Kirindongo, Dylan Christensen, Canton Lippincott, and Jordan Oviedo.
Wayne State tried to string together a late comeback effort in second game on Saturday but fell short as the Eagles prevailed 13-11. The Eagles started off strong with four runs in the first inning, all unearned by the starting pitcher Bradley Howe. The Wildcats entered the sixth inning down by nine runs. They scored four runs in the sixth and three runs in the seventh, but it wasn't enough to pull out the win. Howe was replaced by Hunter Johnston, who allowed two runs in only an inning of work. The game was closed by McSpadden, who allowed seven runs in about three innings. McSpadden again was the Wildcats best hitter, going a perfect 4-for-4 with two RBI's. Other Wildcats with at least one RBI were Tesarek and Christensen, who each had three, Keithan Stafford, and Kirindongo.
In the third game on Sunday, both teams' bats were hot early in the game. The Eagles opened the scoring with two runs in the first. The Wildcats quickly answered, scoring seven runs in the second. UW-La Crosse would answer with seven runs of their own in third inning. Offense became stagnate the rest of the way as the Eagle held to win the game 14-11, and with that win won the weekend series. The Wildcats' starting pitcher for game three was Ethan McKenna, who pitched two innings and allowed nine runs, eight of them earned. He was replaced by Christensen, who pitched four innings and allowed five runs, all of them earned. Both pitchers tallied four strikeouts. Wayne State had a plethora of hitters knock in runners. Kaleb Anderson, Stafford, Roesler, Kirindongo, Christensen, and Oviedo all had at least one run batted in.
The 'Cats are off for the remainder of the semester.
