West Central Reporter

WIU Baseball Falls in Extra Innings

Western Illinois fell in the final game of the three-game series against Southeast Missouri State. The Leathernecks used 14 hits for seven runs but came short as they lost 8-7 in 14 innings.

Nick Mitchell got the WIU offense started in the series finale. The sophomore from Carmel, Ind., led off the game with a leadoff ground rule double. After a walk to Kyree Alexander, Jake Allgeyer would play small ball and move the runners over via the bunt. J.R. Heavilin would WIU on the board with an RBI single to left field.

After SEMO tied the game in the bottom of the first, WIU would break the tie in the top of the third. Nick Mitchell would start the inning with another double to put himself into scoring position. Alexander would move him to third base with a sacrifice bunt. Allgeyer would walk, setting up Heavilin to have his second RBI chance of the afternoon. Heavilin would deliver with an RBI sac fly to put WIU up 2-1. Ricky Pospisil would add to WIU lead as he would drive a 2-2 pitch into the left-center gap for an RBI triple to extend WIU lead to 3-1.

SEMO cut Western Illinois' lead to one after the third inning, but WIU would get the run back in the top of the fourth. Jack Sievers led off the inning with a single to left field before getting bunted to second base. With two outs and Nick Mitchell at the plate, the Leathernecks would score their fourth run of the game as Mitchell would single to right center.

Heading into the top of the fifth SEMO had cut WIU lead back to one. Pospisil got a two-out rally started when he would reach an error. Derek Botaletto would follow it up with a single advancing Pospisil to third base. Botaletto would be in movement as he would steal second base putting two Leathernecks in scoring position. Sievers would drive them both in with a two-run single up the middle. Sievers single would put WIU in front 6-3.

SEMO would add one run in the fifth, sixth, and seventh to tie the game at 6-6. In the seventh, after SEMO scored one run, Jack Bell would enter the game out of the WIU bullpen. With the bases loaded and SEMO threatening to break the game open, Bell would get a double play to end the seventh inning. Bell would keep up the dominating pitching as he would strike out the side in the eighth inning. He kept the ball rolling in the ninth and tenth inning as he would sit SEMO down in order.

The 11th inning brought Bell some trouble. Back-to-back errors would put runners on first and second with no outs. Bell would work around the two errors by getting a ground out, fly out, and line out to end the frame. The 12th would bring more trouble for Bell. After getting the first two outs, SEMO would get their second hit off Bell. Bell would then walk the next two batters to load the bases. Bell would slam the door shut as he got the SEMO hitter to watch strike three to end the inning.

Western Illinois would take the lead back in the top of the 14th. Heavilin would reach an error with one out. Pospisil would have another hit as he singled to left field. Botaletto would break the 6-6 tie with a single to left field, scoring Heavilin. SEMO would respond in the bottom of the 14th with two runs to take the 8-7 victory.

Western Illinois used seven different pitchers, with Jack Bell going the furthest. Bell went 5.2 innings allowing just two hits, well striking out five. Eric Cunning pitched 2.0 innings, allowing zero hits out of the seven batters he faced.

Nick Mitchell led the Leathernecks lineup in hits. Mitchell tallied four hits in his seven at-bats, including two doubles and an RBI. Derek Botaletto and Ricky Pospisil both had three hits in the afternoon. WIU drew five walks as a team, with Kyree Alexander and Jake Allgeyer drawing two. The Leathernecks stole two bases off the Redhawk pitching.

WIU will continue their long road trip to start the season as they take on Southern Illinois on Tuesday (Mar. 20) before hitting the road for their first conference series against St. Thomas next weekend. 

Original source can be found here