By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Set to open MIAA play on Friday, Washburn University baseball combined strong pitching and timely hitting to rally for a 4-3 non-conference win over Truman State Monday at Falley Field.
Jett Buck (16), who had three hits in Washburn's 4-3 non-conference win over Truman State Monday, is congratulated by his teammates after hitting his first home run as an Ichabod. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn, which improved to 4-6, posted its second straight win over the Bulldogs to take the series 2-1 and Ichabod coach Harley Douglas is hopeful the back-to-back victories will give WU momentum heading into a three-game conference-opening series against Pittsburg State Friday through Sunday.
"I think it will,'' Douglas said. "Last week we didn't play great baseball at all and the first game we come out here and didn't play great baseball. But yesterday we kind of got going and today's game was a good dogfight. We made some mistakes but got around it and I thought overall it's a good step in the right direction to get things rolling where we need to.''
The Ichabods trailed 2-0 after the Bulldogs (1-6) scored twice in top of the second off WU starter Chase Torkelson, getting two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs. Back-to-back groundouts scored two runs before the inning was ended on a popup in foul territory.
The Ichabods got one run back in the home half of the second, with junior Jett Buck taking a 2-2 pitch over the left field wall for his first home run of the year.
The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the fourth.
Ike Book beat out an infield hit to open the inning and Hayden Priest wasted no time, hitting the first pitch he saw for a home run into left field to put Washburn in front 3-2.
Truman State loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth inning after a hit, walk and a hit batter, but a strikeout from Torkelson and a double play finished off the inning with no damage done.
Torkelson's day was complete after five innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
The leadoff batter for the Bulldogs reached in the top of the seventh on an error and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on a single through the left side of the infield, tying the game at 3-3.
WU reliever Logan Bartlett got through the first two batters of the eighth inning before Caden Bressler took over with two outs. Priest, the Ichabods' catcher, secured the final out of the inning, throwing out his second would-be base-stealer of the game.
In the bottom of the eighth inning Easton Bruce led off with a double and moved to third on a groundout by Book.
With the infield in, Priest shot a single through the left side to score Bruce for the game-winning run.
Bressler stayed on for the top of the ninth inning and gave up one hit before ending the game with a strikeout.
Washburn racked up 13 hits in the game, with Buck, a transfer from Kansas City Kansas Community College, leading the way with three hits.
"I definitely could tell a difference today from the other days,'' Buck said. "I just felt more relaxed than usual and I just felt like I was seeing the ball real well.''
Trevor McCollum, Priest and Bruce all had two hits, with Buck and Priest both going yard and Priest driving in three runs.
The Ichabod pitching staff tallied three strikeouts while allowing just eight hits, one earned run and issuing just three walks.
Bressler earned the win, moving to 1-1 on the year.
Luke Turner led Truman State with two hits and while Zachry Schneider threw 7.1 innings on the mound and allowed all four runs.
WASHBURN 4, TRUMAN STATE 3
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truman State | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Washburn | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 4 | 13 | 4 |
W -- Caden Bressler (1-1). L -- Justin Maloney (0-2). 2B -- Truman: Luke Turner. Washburn: Easton Bruce, Jay Cash. HR -- Washburn: Hayden Priest, Jett Buck.
