CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Purple & Gold squared off with Southern Utah for two on Friday afternoon. Zach Sterling (5-2). led the Leathernecks to a 11-4 victory. The Thunderbirds stormed back in game two, 4-3, despite a solid performance from Ryan Wachholder (0-7).
Game One
The bats were ready to go from the start and put a digit on the board in the first inning. Dan Dispensa singled up the middle and advanced to second on an Austin Cowen sacrifice bunt. Matt Igara battled with Thunderbird starter James Crockett and earned himself a walk. Tom Lilja drove Dispensa home with a single to left field.
Anthony Kaskadden broke the game open with a bases clearing triple in the fourth inning and eventually scored himself on a wild pitch.
Southern Utah got a run back in the fifth on a double from Tyson Weber and trailed 6-1 after six innings of baseball.
Two hits in the bottom of the seventh led to two Thunderbird runs to cut Western's lead to 6-3.
Danny Marcuzzo connected with curve ball in the eighth inning after Chris Giglio reached with a single. The two-run shot put the Purple Army up 8-3.
Southern Utah used two hits in the bottom of the eighth to get a run before Western Illinois would shut the door for good in the top of the ninth.
Giglio came up with the bases loaded after a Lilja walk, Koszulinski hit-by-pitch and Bryan Jordan single. Giglio drove the ball through the left side for the first run of the inning. Ryan Cowhey flew out to center field to bring home Koszulinski with the sacrifice. Kaskadden drove in his fourth run of the game with a single to left field.
Beau Below tossed the final 1.1 innings and did not allow a run.
Sterling goes 7.2 innings to pick up his fifth victory of the season.
Jordan turned in a 3-for-5 performance and scored two runs. Kaskadden, with his four RBI, becomes the second Leatherneck to do so in as many days. Marcuzzo collected his fifth home run of the season to drive in two runs. Giglio and Lilja both added RBI to the cause.
Game Two
Ryan Wachholder took the hill for the Leathernecks in game three of the series in search of his first victory. The bad luck continued for the junior Leatherneck as Western Illinois lost its sixth one-run game of the season, 4-3.
Matt Igara singled to start the game before Austin Cowen dropped down another sacrifice bunt to advance Igara to second. Tom Lilja doubled to the wall in left field to plate the first run of the game.
The Thunderbirds answered immediately with two in the bottom of the frame. Three hits and a Leatherneck error led to the two runs.
Ryan Cowhey muscled up on a Chase Rezac pitch and deposited it behind the left field wall.
Mitchell Kauweloa singled to left field to add another run to the Thunderbird lead.
Lilja was hit by a pitch to start the fifth inning rally and advanced to second on a passed ball. Bryan Jordan walked before Giglio collected another single to plate Lilja to tie the game at 3-3.
A Brock Westphal double started the sixth inning for the Thunderbirds and was advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. Wachholder's day was done after he hit Weber with a pitch. Travis Pedersen was summoned from the bullpen and was effective but did allow a sacrifice fly to score the decisive fourth run of the game.
After the split, Western Illinois sits at 6-9 in Summit League play.
Wachholder is the losing pitcher after going 5.1 innings, striking out five and allowing three earned runs. Pedersen went 0.2 innings and did not allow a hit.
Cowhey went 2-for-2 on the game and drove in a run with his fourth home run of the season. Lilja and Giglio both drove in runs during game two.
Western Illinois and Southern Utah will conclude the series on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. (MT).
