Wirth Homers in 4-3 Loss to Western Illinois

Friday, April 26

Fort Wayne, Ind.

3:00 p.m.

Purdue Fort Wayne

17-19, 5-8

Western Illinois

11-25, 2-7

Western Illinois

IPFW

Photo by: Lucas Carter

4/26/2013 5:40:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Box Score

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The IPFW baseball team pushed two runs across in the first inning and added a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth, but Western Illinois scored three runs in the top of the seventh after getting on the scoreboard in the sixth to earn a 4-3 victory at Mastodon Field.

Kevin Wirth went 2-for-3 from the plate with a double and a home run, but the Mastodons were limited to just five hits on Friday afternoon. Brandon Soat ended the game 2-for-4 and Clay Hathaway rounded out the hit total by beating a grounder out in the first inning.

The Mastodons took advantage of two errors in the first inning to score the first two runs of the ballgame. Malcolm White and Tyler Shepherd each scored for the Mastodons without recording a hit. An error on a force out kept White on base and Shepherd scored on a sacrifice fly from Steve Lowden.

Wirth slammed a solo shot over the wall in left field to add a run to the scoreboard in the fourth, but the Leathernecks responded with a run in the sixth and three more in the seventh. The top of the order impacted the game for Western Illinois as Zach Burling and Dan Dispensa each went 2-for-4 from the plate. WIU recorded nine hits to score their four runs.

Jason Kalber was hit with the loss for IPFW. Kalber threw the first six innings of the game and struck out eight batters. Travis Reboulet entered the game from the bullpen to throw the final three innings and the senior limited the Leathernecks to just two hits, neither of which would come around to score.

Aaron Michel got the win for Western Illinois and Sam Welvaert picked up his first save of the season. These two teams will meet again tomorrow in a doubleheader with first pitch scheduled for 12 p.m.

~ Feel the Rumble ~