Bods take three from Truman, celebrate senior weekend
April 27, 2009
The Washburn baseball team wrapped up its home schedule at Falley Field last weekend, sending its nine seniors off with three wins versus Truman State.
The Bods split with the Bulldogs Friday night, losing the first game 4-3 in nine innings before winning the second game 7-5 on a walk-off homerun by Brett Sorenson.
In game one, Washburn had two leads, as well as being tied twice, before Truman scored an unearned run in the top of the ninth to pick up the victory. WU’s starter Curtis Hamilton earned a complete game while taking the loss giving up four runs, just two earned, on seven hits.
The Bods were in control for much of the second game as they took leads of 4-1 and 5-2 before Truman rallied to tie it 5-5 in the sixth. Then came the bottom of the seventh where Sorenson took care of business, taking a one out delivery out of the park. Bods’ starting pitcher Dustin Holthaus also pitched a complete game, allowing five runs, two earned, on eight hits.
Saturday was an eventful day as Washburn celebrated Senior Day, swept the Bulldogs by the scores 7-0 and 10-8 and dealt with severe weather in Kansas.
“It was nice being able to get three wins for our seniors,” said Wes Joy.
Washburn’s day began pretty normal as Danny Cook pitched lights out throwing a complete game five-hitter with six strikeouts to pick up the victory. The Bods offense broke through in the bottom of the fifth scoring six runs before adding one more in the sixth.
The second game of the twin bill is where the day became interesting. It began with the honoring of the accomplishments of WU’s nine seniors. Once the action was under way, Truman jumped out to a 5-2 lead early on before WU tied it in the fourth off a Sorenson three-run shot to left center. After adding one in the fifth and taking a 6-5 lead, Truman tied it in the top of the sixth. While rain had been in and out for much of the afternoon, thunder and lightning caused the game to be delayed for two hours and nine minutes. After the delay, which had two tornado siren warnings, Truman jumped out to a lead in top of the eighth with two runs. However, Washburn responded, scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead for good.
“The weather was just crazy,” said Joy. “I figured they’d call it after the tornado sirens. It was good to come back and win that game, though.”
J.P. Verhulst came on in relief in the eighth to pick up the win while Eldon Little pitched the final inning for the save.
Sorenson led the way offensively for the Bods, going 7 for 17 in the series with four runs and nine RBIs.
“He was great all weekend coming up with some big hits,” said Joy. “He came through and was huge for us.”
The Bods did have one non-conference match-up earlier in the week versus Rockhurst, which the Hawks won 12-9. The loss for Washburn forced a 2-2 split of the season series.
Up next for Washburn, which currently sits at eighth in conference with records of 21-25, 14-18 MIAA, is a 6 p.m. game Tuesday at Newman University, in Wichita. The Bods will finish the season with a four-game series versus the MIAA’s third place team, Nebraska-Omaha, beginning with a doubleheader at 1:30 p.m. Saturday followed by another twinbill beginning at noon on May 2nd in Omaha.
“We’re just looking to come out and play hard and win them,” said Joy. “We just want to come out and get over .500 for the year. Come out and play our best since it’s our last five games. We might as well just leave everything out there.”