Four-game sweep of Grand View gives C-SC baseball team 11 victories in last 15 games

CANTON, Mo. — The Culver-Stockton baseball team completed a four-game sweep of Grand View on Saturday, winning 3-2 and 6-3 at Nichols Field in a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader.

The Wildcats (15-23), who won 5-4 and 4-2 on Friday against the Vikings, improved to 9-15 in Heart play. C-SC opened the season 4-4, then lost 15 consecutive games. Now the Wildcats have won 11 of their last 15 games and now are tied with William Penn for fourth place in the seven-team North Division of the Heart.

C-SC’s Ronald Applewhite singled with two out in the bottom of the eighth inning of the first game. He moved to second on a failed pickoff attempt by Viking catcher Rocky Lutz. Collin Hall followed with a base hit that fell just inside the right field foul line allowing Applewhite to race home with the winning run.

Andrew Fay tripled in the first inning of the first game and scored on an RBI single by Douglas Barker. After Grand View scored twice in the third, the Wildcats tied the game in the fifth inning on a two-out RBI double by Barker. 

Jordan Isham pitched two perfect innings to earn his first victory. Stefan Stockwell and Michael McGuire allowed one hit each in three combined innings of relief. Starter Dax Flowerree hurled the first three innings, allowing four hits.

The Wildcats scored a single tall in the second inning of the second game, then scored five more times in the third inning. C-SC loaded the bases with none out, then Hall delivered a two-run single. Flowerree drove home a run with a fielder’s choice, and Harbin belted his team-leading 10th home run of the season, scoring Flowerree to make it 6-0.

Four Wildcats pitchers limited the Vikings to six hits. Alfredo Cruz started and pitched two shutout innings, allowing one hit. Keiichi Kataoka pitched a perfect inning and was given credit for the victory. Donovan Prost pitched two innings. He allowed a three-run homer, but he also struck out three. Fay hurled the final three innings and earned his second save of the season. 

After Tuesday’s home game against Hannibal-LaGrange, C-SC has two weekend series remaining — at Mount Mercy on April 23-24 and at home against Clarke on April 29-30.