Baseball Snaps Skid with 7-3 Win over Leathernecks

Sunday, April 28

Fort Wayne, Ind.

12:00 p.m.

Purdue Fort Wayne

18-21, 4-8

Western Illinois

13-26, 6-10

Western Illinois

IPFW

Photo by: Lucas Carter

Baseball Snaps Skid with 7-3 Win over Leathernecks

4/28/2013 1:13:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

BOX SCORE (.pdf)

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The IPFW Mastodons snapped a five-game losing skid on Sunday afternoon with a 7-3 victory over the Western Illinois Leathernecks at Mastodon Field.

Steve Lowden was 3-for-4 for IPFW, while Kristian Gayday was 2-for-3 with two RBI's and two runs scored. Steve Danielak picked up the win, pitching the first seven innings, giving up two runs and striking out four, while Kyle Sorensen picked up the save after pitching the final two innings of relief, striking out two and scattering four hits.

The Mastodons struck quickly in the game, as Tyler Shepherd drew a one-out walk, was advanced to second on a groundout, and then scored on a single by Lowden, staking the 'Dons to a 1-0 advantage.

The IPFW lead doubled in the bottom of the fourth when Gayday led off the fourth inning with a solo home run over the wall in left center field. Western Illinois countered with a run in the top of the fifth inning when Dan Dispensa hit a ball up the middle, but center fielder Shepherd lost his footing, with Zack Burling scoring from first base, and Dispensa ending up on second base with a weather-aided double. A wild pitch moved Dispensa to third, but a strikeout and a lineout kept the Leathernecks 90 feet away from tying the score.

The Leathernecks evened the score in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI infield single from Tanner Glore, taking the scoreboard to an even 2-2.

After a pair of scoreless half innings, IPFW pushed across three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the first coming after Markus Kalber successfully put down a bunt for a single, moving Kevin Wirth to third base, and Wirth scooted across the plate as the throw from the WIU pitcher was not on target to first base. A sacrifice bunt followed to move Kalber to second, before a fly out to right field put two outs on the scoreboard. The Mastodons followed with an RBI double by Gayday to score Kalber, before Steve Lowdon singled home Gayday to put IPFW ahead 5-2 after seven innings.

An RBI single by WIU in the top of the eighth cut the gap to two at 5-3, before Wirth and Malcolm White each hit RBI singles in the bottom of the eighth to give the game its 7-3 final score.

The Mastodons return to action on Friday, May 3, when the squad hosts the Omaha Mavericks in the first of a four-game series starting at 12 p.m. on Friday.

~ Feel the Rumble ~