Purdue Fort Wayne
WESTERN ILLINOIS
Baseball Splits at Western Illinois
4/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 13, 2008
Macomb, IL - After days of delays, IPFW and Western Illinois finally began their Summit League series. However, because of field conditions the two teams faced off at Macomb High School's Phil Bradley Field.
Each team came out of today with a win, as the Mastodons took the opener, 12-1 but the bats went silent in the nightcap, falling 4-0 to the Leathernecks.
The Mastodons pounded out 16 hits in the opener.
Senior designated hitter Aaron Kerns led the 'Dons with three of those hits. He also drove in three runs and also scored. Kerns was one of six Mastodons to register multiple hit games, including catcher Devin Taylor, centerfielder Jared Davis, first baseman Shaun VanDriessche, left fielder Quentin Brown, and third baseman Jimmy Gilliland. Each had a pair of base knocks.
Gilliland blasted his third homer of the season and also drove in three runs.
The beneficiary of all that run support was junior starter Brandon Knowling who improved to 3-0 on the season. Knowling tossed 5-2/3 innings of three hit ball. He didn't give up a run while striking out five and walking five.
Freshman reliever Samuel Walker came on and pitched the final 3-1/3 innings, giving up just a run on five hits. He walked two and struck out one.
Western Illinois starter Ben Percival was tagged with the loss (1-4), giving up five runs on seven hits.
However, the 'Dons hot bats were silenced in game two by WIU starter Travis Tolsma and reliever Chris Fuchs. The pair shutout the Mastodons in game two, limiting IPFW to just five hits. Two of those coming from the bat of Davis whose average continues to climb. He now sits at .320 after a tough start to the season.
The Leathernecks (8-19, 2-4) got all the runs they would need with three in the 2nd inning off of IPFW starter Cole Uebelhor (0-4). Uebelhor gave up those three runs on nine hits. He struck out one, while walking three in 6-2/3 innings of work.
With the double header split, IPFW stands at 7-19-1 and 3-3 in Summit League play.
The two teams will finish their extended series tomorrow with a double header beginning at noon.
~Dons~
