The Ichabods rode a three-game winning streak into their 2 p.m. contest with the Lincoln Blue Tigers. The Bods won the first contest of the double header 9-0 on two-hit pitching from pitcher Maustin Otterstatter. The 2 p.m. contest ended in similar fashion.

After the preliminaries, the beat down of the Lincoln Blue Tigers continued as the Bods retired the first eight batters the Blue Tigers sent to the plate. Starting pitches were solid for the Bods as Mark Biesma dominanted for six scoreless innings with five strikeouts, one walk and one batter that was hit with a pitch. The same can’t be said for Blue Tigers’ starting pitcher Gatlin Wiggins, who threw just 2 2/3 innings and was relieved with his team down 6-0.

The Bods pitching staff benefited from a lack of discipline on the part of the Blue Tigers at the plate. The Blue Tigers jumped on the vast majority of first pitches offered up by Bods pitching and because of that they never had an opportunity to adjust to the Bods’ pitchers. 

In the bottom of the first, the Bods jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on an unselfish play that included a sacrifice bunt to move a base runner Taylor Herrington from second to third. Herrington would eventually score off a hard hit line drive from David Gauntt. 

In the bottom, of the third, the Bods tacked on four more runs on outstanding hitting from Washburn’s seniors who accounted for four of the six hits in the inning and took the Bods to a 6-0 advantage. The Bods got more help in the bottom of the sixth when they increased their lead to 7-0 on more aggressive baserunning.

In the seventh, senior A.J. Green came on in relief and struck out two of the three batters he faced. The excellent relief pitching continued in the eight when Greg Mason came in and struck out three batters in a row. 

In the ninth, closer Spencer Schwandt let things get a little more interesting when he walked the first batter he faced, and gave up a long homerun to the second to allow the Blue Tigers to pull to 7-2. But as is the case with the best closers in baseball, they just like to make the game a little more interesting before they slam the door shut in the face of their opponents. Schwandt retired the next three batters in a row to earn a save and move the Bods to 20-19 overall and 19-15 in the MIAA.