WAVERLY, Iowa — Nebraska Wesleyan earned a hard-fought split against Wartburg on Easter Sunday afternoon in Waverly, Iowa. The Prairie Wolves (7-16, 2-5 A-R-C) shut out the Knights 1-0 in game one before falling 5-4 in a back-and-forth nightcap.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1: NWU 1, Wartburg 0
Jack Starr was brilliant in the opener. The freshman right-hander retired Wartburg in order in each of the first two innings, setting the stage for Nebraska Wesleyan to scratch across the game's only run in the top of the second. Owen Duckworth drew a leadoff walk and Brady Bell singled to left to put two on. Duckworth then stole third and came home on a Wartburg error to give the Prairie Wolves a 1-0 lead they would not relinquish.
Starr navigated trouble in the third and fourth innings, stranding runners each time. He finished with six innings of two-hit, scoreless baseball, walking four and striking out one.
The Knights mounted their most serious threat in the seventh, opening the inning with a walk and a hit batter to force a pitching change. Dominic Sis entered and quickly recorded a popup and a strikeout. After a single put the tying run in scoring position, Bell gunned down the runner at the plate to end the inning. Caleb DeWitt then handled the eighth, and after a single, a sacrifice bunt and an error loaded the bases with two outs, DeWitt struck out the final batter to strand the tying run at third and seal the 1-0 victory.
Game 2: Wartburg 5, NWU 4
Trevor Storer loaded the bases in the first inning but escaped with just one run allowed. Nebraska Wesleyan answered immediately in the top of the second when Brady Bell led off with a solo home run to left field to knot the score at one.
The Knights retook the lead in the fourth with three consecutive baserunners, two hit batters and a walk, before a two-run single through the left side and an additional RBI pushed the Wartburg advantage to 4-1. Ryan Johnson entered in relief and stranded the remaining runners with a strikeout.
Nebraska Wesleyan chipped away in the fifth when Duncan Ortega worked a walk and scored on an Easton Johnson single to make it 4-2. Jaxon Volkmer added a run in the seventh to pull the Prairie Wolves within one at 4-3, but Wartburg answered in the bottom half with a solo home run to left field to push the lead back to 5-3.
The Prairie Wolves made it interesting in the ninth. Brayden Harvey singled to left and Volkmer reached on an error to put two runners aboard for Ortega, who ripped a single through the right side to score Harvey and make it 5-4. But Nebraska Wesleyan couldn't complete the comeback, stranding the tying run on base as the final two batters struck out to end the game.
UP NEXT
The Prairie Wolves will host Simpson on Tuesday, April 7. for a doubleheader First pitch from Sandhills Global Youth Complex is scheduled for 3:30 PM.
