After almost 7 1/2 hours of baseball, Wayne State and University of Sioux Falls settled for a split in a wild doubleheader Sunday at the Chapman Complex, with the Wildcats winning the opener 14-10 and the Cougars taking the nightcap 21-13.
Sioux Falls scored first in the opener on a sacrifice fly in the first inning, but Wayne State took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the inning when Bryce Bisenius singled and scored Payton Barnes to tie the game, and Bisenius came home on an error to make it 2-1.
And then — the runs started coming — fast and furious.
Both teams scored four in the second, and Sioux Falls put up two runs in both the third and fourth innings to take a 9-6 lead.
Wayne State responded with a big fifth inning to take the lead for good. Alex Logelin doubled home Andrew Hanson, then came home on a three-run pinch-hit homer by Rob Ramsey ater Jake Lorenzini singled. Wayne scored two more runs thanks to a two-RBI double by Bisenius, then put up two more insurance runs in the sixth thanks to a Logelin solo blast and an RBI triple by Jackson Petersen, scoring Jake Lamar.
Sioux Falls loaded the bases in the seventh and had the tying run at the plate, but Lawson Zenner closed the door to save the game for the Wildcats.
Bisenius was 3-for-4 with three RBI’s and two runs scored and Logelin went 2-for-3 with two RBI’s and two runs scored to lead the 13-hit attack. Petersen also had two hits and scored twice. Brady Johnson got the win, with Zenner earning the save.
The nightcap was nearly a four-hour affair that saw the Cougars crank out 19 hits and score in every inning with the help of 16 walks and four Wildcat errors.
Wayne State scored in eight of the nine innings, but not enough to keep pace with the Cougars as the visitors avoided the four-game sweep.
Tanner Simons was 4-for-5 with a pair of homers, a triple, four RBI’s and four runs scored to lead the Wildcats. Hanson was 2-for-4 with two RBI’s and two runs scored, while Bisenius, Lorenzini and Travis Miller each went 2-for-4 with two RBI’s and two run scored. Charles Hasty, one of nine Wildcat pitchers used in the finale, suffered the loss.
Wayne State (18-22, 16-14 NSIC) will close out the regular season next weekend at seventh-ranked Augustana with doubleheaders set for Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 12 p.m. in Sioux Falls, S.D.
