Wildcats' Season Comes to an End in Heart Conference Tournament
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#7 Peru State | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 19 | 21 | 2 |
|
#5 Baker | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 10 | 2 |
OZARK, Mo. – With their second loss of the tournament, the Baker baseball season came to an end on Saturday as the Wildcats fell to Peru State in the consolation bracket, 19-9.
Baker threw nine pitchers in the game, including Evan Gottstein, Trent Davidson, Erik Kelly, Brayden Youkon, Kole Starlin, Ty Clark, Jaidon Bowers, Chris Bollefer and Jacob Ewell. Baker had 10 hits as a team, as Tanner Twillman, Jon Jenkins and Jaidon Bowers each had two hits in the game.
After the Wildcats fell behind 2-0 in the first inning and a half, Jon Jenkins got the Wildcats on the scoreboard with a solo homerun to left field, cutting the lead in half, 2-1. Baker then tied it up in the bottom of the third on a sac-fly from Kolden Howerton.
In the fourth, fifth and sixth inning, Peru State scored 10 runs, quickly pushing their lead to 12-2. Baker was able to get two runs in the bottom of the sixth on Jon Jenkins' second home run of the game as Baker trailed 11-4.
After a scoreless seventh inning, the Bobcats tacked on sixth runs in the top of the eighth, but Baker got five of those runs back in the bottom half on hits from Brennan Johnson, Bowers and Twillman, cutting the lead to 18-9. Peru State would add on one more run in the ninth as they defeated the Wildcats and closed out the season for Baker.
Baker finishes the 2024 season with an overall record of 20-31 and finished 16-16 in Heart of America play, earning the fifth seed in the Heart Conference Tournament to mark their fifth straight appearance in the tournament.
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