Wildcats Win Three Straight to Take Home Series over Park

BALDWIN CITY - Heading into the final home stretch of the regular season, Baker baseball won three straight games in its Heart series against Park this past weekend on Sauder Field.

The Wildcats swept Saturday's doubleheader on scores of 9-2 and 15-4 before securing the series victory with a 4-2 win in the first game on Sunday. The Pirates avoided the four-game sweep by taking the series finale, 4-1.

BU 9, Park 2
After playing for the first extended time away from Baldwin City, Baker made an impressive return to Sauder on Saturday, scoring in every inning but one to take the weekend opener, 9-2.

The Wildcats wasted no time in setting the tone for the weekend as Camden Karlin led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run before Tyson Wallace matched Karlin with a leadoff homer of his own in the second.

BU added two more in the third with Tyson Kiser coming home on a wild pitch and Jon Jenkins lining an RBI single, then stretched the margin with Kiser's RBI single in the fourth to make it a 6-2 lead. Baker tacked on its final runs in the sixth as pinch-runner Caden Deeney scored on a wild pitch and TJ Armstrong delivered a two-run single, helping secure the 9-2 final.

Karlin pitched his seventh complete game and picked up his seventh win of the season, striking out five and allowing just five hits.

BU 15, Park 4
Baker broke open a one-run ballgame by piling up 12 runs across the fourth and fifth innings to finish off Saturday's sweep with a 15-4 blowout

After Park scored a pair in the first, Jenkins' two-run single in the third pushed the Wildcats in front, 3-2. Then, in the bottom of the fourth, BU ripped off seven runs, highlighted by two more RBI from Jenkins as well as a two-run double from Armstrong.

Jackson Truman and Brayden Walker each hit two-run homers in the bottom of the fifth as the Wildcats stretched the lead out past double digits. BU reliever Eden Schimmel struck out a pair and logged a scoreless seventh to complete the landslide win.

BU 4, Park 2
On Sunday, the Wildcats relied on their pitching and timely hitting to pull out a 4-2 victory in the third game of the series.

BU reached the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second on a bases-loaded walk from Karlin, followed by an RBI single from Kiser, who reached after legging out an infield single to make it a 2-0 lead.
After the Pirates pulled within one in the third, Carson Adams launched a solo blast over the fence in left field to give BU a two-run advantage again. Karlin plated the final run on an RBI groundout later in the fourth.

Baker rode the arms of four pitchers to secure the win, with starter Kole Starlin doing most of the legwork, tallying five strikeouts and allowing just one earned run in his five innings of action. Anthony Sillas struck out two in his scoreless inning of work and Peyton Bowers finished off the victory to earn his second save of the spring.

Park 4, BU 1
Baker's firepower eventually ran out of gas in the final game of the weekend, allowing the Pirates to leave Baldwin City with their lone win from the weekend.

BU was held to just two hits in the game, but one of them came on Armstrong's solo homer in the bottom of the second, which gave the Wildcats a 1-0 advantage to start.

Park used a solo home run to tie things up in the top of the fourth and then took the lead later on in the frame with a two-out RBI single. The Pirates added a run in the fifth and sixth to round out their 4-1 win.

Up next, Baker will host a non-conference matchup against Avila on Tuesday, April 21, starting at 6 p.m. in Baldwin City. The two teams will play a single, nine-inning game.

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