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Western Illinois University Athletics

MBA_IPFW_Game2_FP
WIU Visual Productions Center
6
Winner Fort Wayne IPFW 10-6, 1-1 Summit
3
Western Illinois WIU 3-9, 1-1 Summit
Winner
Fort Wayne IPFW
10-6, 1-1 Summit
6
Final
3
Western Illinois WIU
3-9, 1-1 Summit
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Fort Wayne IPFW 0 0 1 2 0 0 3 0 0 6 7 1
Western Illinois WIU 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 8 3

W: Ryan Wells (2-2) L: Constand, Tom (0-4) S: Jake Weber (4)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks Come Up Short Against Fort Wayne

Mark Garton improved his reached-base streak to eight games in the 6-3 loss.

MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois baseball fell to Fort Wayne, 6-3, on Saturday (March 14) in game two of the three-game set at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium. The Leathernecks drop to 1-1 in Summit League play and 3-9 overall.

The Purple and Gold jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with runs in the first and second innings. However, Fort Wayne would take advantage of three errors on the Leatherneck defense and earn its first Summit League win, improving to 1-1 in league play and 10-6 overall.

"We had a chance to put them away in the second inning," said head coach Ryan Brownlee. "We score in the first and Tom (Constand) sets the tempo and shuts them down. In the second we score again and have first base and third base with no outs and we don't score anymore runs. Then it becomes about executing defensively and handling the baseball. I think we gave them four of their runs and obviously you have a chance to win 3-2. We just have to play clean baseball."

Game two opened with a one, two, three top of the first for starter Tom Constand. In the bottom half, leadoff-hitter Roman Visintine drew a walk to put Western's first batter on base for the second straight game. Visintine would steal second, following the script from game one, and advance to third on a ground ball from Colton Pogue. An RBI ground-out from JJ Reimer scored Visintine and the Leathernecks would go into the second inning leading 1-0.

Constand would strike out one in the top of the second as the Western defense put the Mastodons down in order. In the bottom of the second, Jake Moore smacked a leadoff double to left field and Mark Garton singled to move him over to third. With Adam McGinnis at the dish and an 0-2 count, the Johnny Bench watch-lister would reach across the plate and poke an RBI single into right field, scoring Moore from third.

However, with runners on first and third and nobody out, the WIU bats would go silent. The inning would end with just one run scored and the bases loaded, Western leading Fort Wayne 2-0.

The Purple and Gold lead would not last long as IPFW would use an error in the third to score one and then plate two more in the fourth. Fort Wayne carried the 3-2 lead into the seventh before adding three additional insurance runs to make it 6-2.

In the bottom of the eighth, Payton Jeffers led off the inning with a single to left field, and then advanced to third on two straight ground balls. Chris Tschida stepped in and lined a two-out RBI single up the middle to score Jeffers. A first-pitch two-out single from Moore looked to extend the Leatherneck rally, but a pop-up down the first base line would end the comeback and Fort Wayne would go on to win 6-3.

On the mound, Constand notched four strikeouts in four innings of work. He surrendered three runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks. Jordan Pannell surrendered three runs (two earned) on three hits and one walk in 2.2 innings of relief with two strikeouts. Nick Milligan and Pete Minella both posted an inning each of scoreless relief and gave up no hits. Milligan also tallied three strikeouts in the appearance.

At the plate, Moore recorded three hits in four at-bats, including the lone extra-base hit of the game, with a run scored. McGinnis added two hits of his own while driving in one run and stealing a base. Jeffers, Tschida, and Garton would also contribute a hit to the cause. Visitine and Jeffers collected a run scored and a walk each, while an RBI from Tschida round out the WIU offense for the game.

Western will look to clinch the series tomorrow (March 15) in the game-three finale at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium. First pitch is set for 12:00 p.m. with live audio and video starting shortly before at GoLeathernecks.com/watch.
 
    
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