Index of Sports Press Releases

April 28, 2008

Tigers end regular season with sweep
The Daily Republic

DWU starting pitcher Freddy Janssen delivers a pitch during the Tigers’ doubleheader at Mount Marty on Sunday. (James Cimburek/Yankton Press & Dakotan)

YANKTON — The Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team’s bats came alive Sunday, keying a two-game sweep of in-state rival Mount Marty to close the regular season.

The Tigers also swept Sioux Falls Thursday, and the four-game winning streak has head coach Adam Neisius’ club feeling good.

“I don’t remember the last time we won all four games to finish the regular season,” Neisius said. “I guess we picked the right time of year to get going.”

DWU steadily built a big lead in game one with two runs in the second inning, four in the third and two more in the fifth. The Lancers responded with a five-run inning to pull within 8-6, but the Tigers added single runs in the fifth and seventh, and held on for a 10-7 win.

Jake Roy was 3-for-3 with two runs, Jeff Bollard was 3-for-4 with three RBI, Ryan Santiago also drove in three runs, and Sean Heary hit a big two-run homerun in the third inning.

“(Heary) lifted a moon ball over the left field wall and that kind of capped it off a little bit for us,” Neisius said. “That kind of deflated their dugout.”

Freddy Janssen worked five innings for the win, and though he struggled in the bottom of the fifth, Neisius said his pitcher kept them in the game.

“Freddy caught a lot of the plate in the bottom of the fifth, but he battled and gave us five good innings,” Neisius said. “He didn’t have his best stuff. He had the offense bail him out, which has to happen sometimes.”

Thomas Pickett worked the final two innings to help the Tigers nail down the win.

Game two followed a similar blueprint. DWU broke open a 2-1 game in the fifth inning with a five-run rally. Terry Lundeen led off the inning with a solo homerun, and Santiago delivered a clutch two-run single.

“It was timely,” Neisius said. “The guys did a good job. We’re finally getting his with guys in scoring position and hits with two outs.”

Kyle Isaacson also went deep for the Tigers, and finished 1-for-1 with three runs, two walks and he was also hit by a pitch.

“Ike hit a blast in the second inning, and they didn’t give him a pitch to hit after that,” Neisius said. “He’s starting to get locked in, which is huge.”

Lundeen was 2-for-4 with his home run in the win, and Bollard had another multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with two RBI. For the series, the catcher was 5-for-8 with five RBI.

“J.B. handles our pitchers and the running game so well, we’ll live with whatever he’s going to hit,” Neisus said “ He was seeing it well, and he was hitting it all over the field. He had a great day, and I’m happy for him.”

Phil Johnson started and earned the win with five good innings, then Robert Stevens and Patrick Dennis each worked a scoreless inning to slam the door on the sweep.

“That’s kind of been our story,” Neisius said. “If we can get a lead to our bullpen, we haven’t lost many games.”

DWU finished the regular season with a 21-19 overall record, and a 14-10 league mark. They sit in a tie for fourth in the GPAC standings with Midland Lutheran, but will likely be the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament, which begins Thursday in Sioux Falls.

However, the Tigers have one more game before the post-season starts. DWU hosts the Sioux Falls Canaries for a 6:30 p.m. exhibition today at Cadwell Park, and even though they’re going up against professionals, Neisius likes the way his team is playing.

“We’ve played really confident the last four games,” he said. “When you have confidence, that is a huge advantage. … We’re playing very good baseball right now at the right time.”