Index of Sports Press Releases

Mar. 22, 2008

DWU splits doubleheader at Doane
The Daily Republic

CRETE, Neb. — The Dakota Wesleyan baseball team was one out away from a sweep of Doane College in a doubleheader Friday in Crete, Neb. But with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Doane rightfielder Dean Henson singled in two runs with a ball down the leftfield line and take a 6-5 win, spoiling the party for the Tigers.

“It puts a big downer on,” DWU head coach Adam Neisius said. “The second one is always the one you remember.”

Still, despite the ending for DWU, it wasn’t a total downer for the Tigers, who dominated the opener, a 19-4 win.

DWU erupted for five runs in the first two innings to take a commanding early lead. The Tigers scored three times in the first inning in a rally that started completely after there were two outs.

Sean Heary reached on an error and advanced to second, and Kyle Isaacson followed with a single up the middle to drive him in. Mark Wood then hit a home run to right field to take the early 3-0 lead.

DWU added two more runs in the second inning to break the game open. An error on the Doane shortstop allowed the first run to score, and Josh Pritt also had a sacrifice fly in the inning.

“We swung it well all day,” Neisius said. We had close to 30 hits, and I don’t remember the last time we had 24 runs in a split. The kids are coming around a bit. The lineup is clicking and doing good job.”

After Jake Roy homered in the fourth inning to give DWU a 6-1 lead, Doane answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning to keep the game close at 6-4. But six DWU runs in the sixth inning and seven runs in the seventh quickly put the game out of reach. The Tigers scored the 13 runs courtesy of nine hits and two Doane errors. Isaacson had a three-run homer in the sixth, and Roy had a three-run triple in the seventh.

“That’s one thing that we do a good job of offensively, is answering back when the other team scores,” Neisius said.

Zach Huston also had a big day at the plate for DWU in game one. He went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI. Roy was 2-for-4 with five RBI, Isaacson was 2-for-5 with four RBI and Wood was 2-for-5 with two RBI. Freddy Janssen got the win for DWU. He went six innings and allowed seven hits and three earned runs to improve to 2-1.

In game two, Doane drew first blood with two runs off DWU starter Chris Dennis. However, Wesleyan tied the game in the top of the third when Pritt singled and Isaacson hit a two-run homer. Isaacson finished the day with four hits, six RBI and two homers.

“He’s been swinging pretty good bat,” Neisius said. “We’ve kept on him about putting good swings on ball. He had two homers today, one to each field, and he had a nice bunt in the seventh. He did pretty much everything offensively. We had four or five guys tear it up offensively.”

Doane crept ahead again in the bottom of the third with a single run, and added insurance with one more in the fourth. But DWU plated three runs in the sixth and seventh innings to take the lead. In the sixth, Huston had an RBI single and Jered Bettancourt had an RBI as well. Huston added an RBI double in the seventh to give DWU a one-run lead going into the bottom of the seventh.

That, however, only set the stage for the late heroics from Doane.

“We’ve got to figure something out,” Neisius said. “I don’t want to turn into a ‘let’s outhit that team and beat them 14-10.’ With the starting pitching we had today, it sort of turned into, ‘we have to outhit them or we’re not going to win. That’s not who we are.”

Isaacson was 2-for-3 with two RBI to lead DWU in the second game. Huston was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Phil Johnson picked up the loss after coming in to pitch the final 1.2 innings. His two runs in the seventh inning were unearned.

“I told the guys the only team in the conference that I thought could beat us was sitting here on the bus,” Neisius said. “We beat ourselves, and I have a problem with that. Starting pitching is the key, and that’s what beat ourselves.”

DWU returns to action today with a double-header at Midland Lutheran College.