ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Nebraska Wesleyan opened the 2019 baseball season on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 24) by dropping a doubleheader versus Fontbonne University at CarShield Field in St. Charles, Mo.  Fontbonne won the opening game 8-3, then took the nightcap 7-6 in 11 innings.
 
The Prairie Wolves will play another game at Fontbonne on Monday starting at noon, followed by a game against Greenville University.
 
NWU fell behind 4-0 after three innings in game one and they weren't able to recover.  Playing for the first time outside all year, the Prairie Wolves allowed one run in the 1^st inning then three in the bottom of the 3^rd.  Fontbonne tacked on another run in the 6^th and three more in the 7^th to go up 8-0.
 
In the top of the 9^th inning the Prairie Wolves were able to get the first runs of the season.  Tyler Winterstein singled, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a single by Derek Kolbush.  Will Watkins then blasted a two-run home run to give NWU three runs in the inning.
 
Connor Cech got the start on the mound and made a solid outing pitching 6.0 innings allowing five hits and three earned runs.  Tucker McHugh threw the final two innings giving up three runs, two earned on four hits.
 
Kolbush and Watkins both had two-hit performances at the plate for Nebraska Wesleyan.
 
In game two, the Prairie Wolves scored the first run of the game in the top of the 1^st, then fell behind 4-1.  The Prairie Wolves scored three runs in the 6^th and two more in the 7^th to take a 6-5 advantage.  Fontbonne was able to tie the game in the bottom of the 7^th and the game would go to extra innings.
 
Neither team scored in the 10^th inning, then in the 11^th the first three batters reached to load the bases.  After a force out at home, Fontbonne got by Chapman in the bottom of the 11^th.
 
The big inning for the Prairie Wolves was the 6^th inning when they had three hits to plate three runs.  Kolbush and Watkins both doubled and Spencer Scheer added an RBI single.  In the 7^th inning, Winterstein drove in two runs with a single.
 
Fontbonne ended the game with 19 hits, compared to nine for the Prairie Wolves.  NWU also committed four errors in the game.
Sam Condello started on the mound allowing five earned runs on nine hits in four innings.  Hayden Parker pitched five innings allowing one unearned run on six hits with two strikeouts.  Drew Poulas pitched the final 1.1 innings.
 
Evan Gellatly was 2-6 and Winterstein was 2-5 with two RBI, while Kolbush had two RBI.