A lull in the Kentucky Wesleyan College baseball team’s offense proved costly on Thursday, suffering a 10-2 loss to the host and No. 1 seed Northwood University in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional. The Panthers will face the No. 5 seed Bellarmine in an elimination game set for 9 am CT on Friday.
The Timberwolves pounced early, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Kentucky Wesleyan responded with one run in the top of the second. A pair of doubles from Adam Brown and Jacob Snodgrass plated one run for the Panthers.
A sharp defensive play from Levi Tanner held Northwood scoreless in the bottom of the second. The junior caught a fly ball in right field, and gunned the runner out at home who was trying to score from second.
Another double play ended the inning in the bottom of the third, this time from Seth Campbell. The shortstop dived for a line drive then doubled up the base runner at third for the second-straight inning-ending double play.
The Timberwolves struck again in the fourth with two runs and then four more in the sixth to jump out to a nine-run lead.
Kentucky Wesleyan turned its third double play of the game in the seventh, with a Campbell – Stemle – Brown connection.
In the top of the eighth, the Panthers loaded the bases with no outs after Tanner led off with a single followed by two straight walks from Stemle and Cody Bridges. Brown drew a walk to bring home Tanner but the rally was too little too late as the Panthers were handed a 10-2 loss.
Ryan Hundley suffered his third loss of the season, pitching 3.0 innings and allowing four runs off of four hits. Nate Verst threw the middle three innings, giving up six runs off of eight hits and striking out two. Ryan Bailey closed out the final 2.0 innings, allowing one hit and holding the Timberwolves scoreless.
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