BASEBALL SCORES 20, SWEEPS DOUBLEHEADER VS. WILLIAM PENN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Avila baseball is now on a three-game winning streak after taking two from William Penn on Monday, 7-5 and 13-9.

Avila only scored in two innings in the first game, but the Eagles made sure they were crooked innings.

A 1-2-3 first on the mound from Max Holmes set the table for the bottom half of the inning.

Tommy English and Aaron Mcleod-Smith opened the inning with back-to-back HBPs. Caden Stillwell moved them both over with a sacrifice to put two in scoring position. English then scored on an error by the Statemen first baseman to go up 1-0.

Two batters later, DH Aidan Johnson drove in a pair with an RBI double to right field.

After one, Avila held a 3-0 lead.

William Penn put up one in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to tie the game entering the bottom half of the fifth inning.

Avila's second big inning was to come.

With runners on the corner in the bottom of the fifth, Stillwell singled to center and drove in Joey Reichmuth and Diego Solis after the ball got past the William Penn centerfielder, letting Stillwell advance to third.

The next batter, Joey Reichmuth, drove in Stillwell on an infield single.

After another Eagle was hit by a pitch, Johnson scored Dylan Atherton on an RBI single to left to put Avila up 7-4.

The Statesmen got one back in the seventh, but it wasn't enough as Avila took game one, 7-5.

Avila used three late longballs to take another victory in game number two.

The Eagles got one in the first on an RBI groundout from Reichmuth before William Penn tied it in the second.

Two more from the Statesmen in the third set the table for Avila to regain the lead in the bottom half.

English scored on an RBI double from Dylan Atherton and, the next batter, Johnson, drove in two with an RBI single up the middle to put Avila back on top, 4-3.

Pinch hitting in the fourth inning, Vinny Neilson hit a first-pitch RBI single to right followed immediately by an RBI single from Stillwell, which was then followed by a run-scoring wild pitch to stretch Avila's lead to 7-3.

The Statemen got two back in the fifth, but Avila's power showed in the bottom half.

A trio of two-run bombs came from JJ Stubblefield, Mcleod-Smith and Atherton to put Avila ahead 13-5.

WPU made a small comeback attempt in the seventh inning, scoring four before Brendan McBride shut the door to give Avila its third-straight victory with the 13-9 win over William Penn.

In the two games, designated hitter Aidan Johnson went 4-7 with five RBI. Joey Reichmuth scored four runs across the doubleheader and Caden Stillwell scored once while driving in a pair.

Avila is immediately back in conference play on Tuesday, hosting Kansas Wesleyan for a make-up game beginning at 2 PM from The Z.

(photo credit: Rhett Rogers)