Jake Glover ended a long day with a walkoff blast as the Mount Vernon Nazarene University baseball team (14-9, 9-3) split its doubleheader, and its four-game series, with the Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats (11-13, 7-5) on Monday, March 21, in Mount Vernon.
IWU had received votes in the NAIA coaches' baseball poll, but the Cougars battled the Wildcats evenly, knocking them out of the poll after the four-game set.
In the first game of the day, MVNU got off to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning with Andrew Miller scoring on an error. The lead lasted through the fifth inning, when Indiana Wesleyan scored two runs. The visitors tacked seven more scores on the board across the final three-innings to solidify their 9-3 victory. Devin Pearl's two-run homer in the seventh for MVNU offered the home team some hope, but it ultimately was not enough to get the Cougars back in the game.
Jarin Bertke took the loss on the mound for the Cougars as the freshman went 4 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits and five walks and striking out five batters. Austin Brown and Maxwell Donawa pitched a combined 4 1/3 innings, giving up seven runs.
In Game 2, pitching ruled the first two frames, but action started in the middle innings as both teams traded blows in their third and fourth at-bats. The Wildcats got on the board first in the top of the third, going up 1-0, but the Cougars fought back with four runs in the bottom half of the inning through a pair of two-run singles by Miller and Jake Glover.
The Cougars trailed 8-6 in the sixth inning and fought to get back in the game. They caught a break when Miller came to the plate with two on and two out. He swung at strike three, but the ball bounced away from the Wildcat catcher, and this allowed Miller to take off toward first base. The ensuing throw to first sailed high and down the first-base line, allowing both Blaine Keener and Toby Walker to come across to tie the game.
The game went to two extra innings before the Cougars ended things. Miller led off the bottom of the ninth getting hit by a pitch, the 16th time he’s been hit so far this season. Pearl then reached on an error before Casey Kalman bunted the pair over with a neatly placed sacrifice bunt. Glover then came to the plate and belted a walk-off, three-run home run to right field to seal the MVNU win.
Glover was the starting pitcher and went 4 1/3 innings, giving up eight earned runs on 11 hits, striking out three and walking none. Cole Schreck finished the fifth inning before Cruz McFadden came on to toss the final four innings. The flame-throwing righty struck out six and gave up only one hit, earning the win.
