Extra-Inning Loss Bites Eagles at Bulldogs

McPHERSON, Kan. – Despite an impressive effort, Avila baseball (18-25, 9-17 KCAC) came up just short in extra innings in Saturday's series opener, and then No. 20 McPherson (28-12, 21-5 KCAC), the conference's only team in the most recent national rankings, coasted to a pair of wins in Sunday's doubleheader to earn a three-game sweep on a rainy weekend in McPherson.

The rain afflicting Kansas and Missouri all weekend affected this and many other series this weekend, changing the gameplan to one game on Saturday and two games on Sunday. Despite the changes, the Eagles were ready to play on Saturday against McPherson, one of the top teams in the KCAC and ranked as one of the best teams in the NAIA.

Both teams sent their aces to the hill for the series opener, and Jarret Dotson and Blake Maddock lived up to the billing. McPherson got on the board first, punching across a run in both the second and the third before the Eagles finally broke through against Maddock in the seventh. Paxton Andrade and Kurt Trotter both singled and Ricky Dober walked, loading the bases with only one out, before both Jacob Nevels and Reyes Willis drew bases-loaded walks to force home a pair of runs, and tie the score at two apiece.

With Maddock now out of the game in the eighth, the Eagles made their move. Jack Virden was hit by a pitch and stole second to get into scoring position, but that mattered little because Trotter smashed a two-run home run to center, giving the Eagles their first lead of the night, 4-2. Dotson turned in a virtuoso effort on the mound for the Eagles, setting a new career high with a full nine innings pitched, but McPherson managed to scratch across runs in the eighth and ninth, both coming off sacrifice flies, to tie the game at four and force extras.

The Eagles had their chances. Avila put two runners aboard in the ninth and couldn't score an insurance run, and then Isaiah Alvarez beat out an infield single to load the bases in the ninth before Brock Selstrom got a called strike three to end the threat, and after an error put the leadoff man aboard in the bottom of the tenth, nine-hole hitter Sammy Grim delivered the winning hit, lifting the Bulldogs to a 5-4 win in ten innings.

It was an excellent team performance against a high quality opponent in the series opener. But when the Bulldogs came out on Sunday for the doubleheader they did not mess around, erupting for a total of 27 runs over the final two games to cruise to a pair of wins.

Avila got off to a strong start Sunday when Landon Vahle doubled to lead off the game and scored on a base knock by Bryce Culp, but McPherson answered back with eight runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back. The Eagles got one more hit in the game after that first inning, a Trotter double, and that was all: McPherson scored six more runs in the sixth, only one of which was earned, and cruised to a 16-1 win in seven innings. Kevinn Castillo had four hits and drove in six runs for the Bulldogs; Alex Walton was strong in relief for the Eagles, allowing only one run over three full innings with five strikeouts.

Avila faced a large early hole in Sunday's finale, but rallied well to finish a difficult weekend on a high note. McPherson scored five runs over the first two innings to set the tone before Avila got two back in the third off a two-run homer by Vahle, who continued his career season.

Unfazed, McPherson punched back with five in the bottom of the third to go in front by eight. But even down big, the Eagles finished strong. Nevels and Culp drove in runs in the fourth and after McPherson got one back in the bottom half, the Eagles rallied to load the bases in the seventh and make the Bulldogs sweat out the result.

Trotter, Andrade and Virden all reached – without a hit – to load the bases with nobody out in the inning. A wild pitch brought it one run, and then Willis, who moved up in the batting order, and Albert Guerrero, who slotted into the starting lineup for the first time as an Eagle, drove in runs to bring the deficit to within four. McPherson had to bring Zach Reynolds into what had become a save situation, and he finally recorded the last out on a force at second, stamping out Avila's chance at a comeback and preserving a tense 11-7 win for McPherson. Guerrero and Nevels combined for four hits, two runs and two RBI in the 8- and 9-spots in the order; Seth Kilbourn followed Walton with a strong day in relief, allowing just one run over 3.1 inning with three strikeouts.

Up next, Avila baseball will play its final scheduled midweek contest of the season this Tuesday, April 18 when the Eagles make the short trip north to Leavenworth to take on Saint Mary in the rubber match of the season series. First pitch is currently slated for 3:30 PM; as always, you can tune in to the game live on the KCAC Network.