Wildcats Take Two out of Three at Heart Duals

DAVENPORT, Iowa - No. 25 Baker men's wrestling picked up a pair of conference wins on Saturday after competing in the Heart Duals, hosted by St. Ambrose, in Davenport, Iowa.

After falling to Graceland, 26-16, in their first dual of the day, the Wildcats reeled off a huge 39-4 win over (RV) William Penn before closing out the tournament with a 30-20 victory over the Bees.

Saoul Prado and Nat'aani Prado opened up Baker's outing with back-to-back wins to spot the team an 11-0 lead, but Graceland claimed seven of the next eight classes to come out on top, 26-16. Jazen Brown recorded BU's second pin of the dual, taking down his opponent at 149 pounds.

In their second dual in Davenport, the Wildcats came out on top in all but one of the matches with four of the bouts being decided by a minor decision. Along with wins from the Prado brothers and Brown, Noah Sample (174) and Eli Messik (184) each notched a victory against the Statesmen, while Keeghan Troutman (165), Kevin Lund (197) and Elijah Eslinger (285) each won by forfeit.

Baker's final dual of the day featured a back-and-forth battle against the host Bees as Saoul Prado and Brown each notched their third victories of the competition. After Sample's pin at 165 pounds tied the match at 14-14, BU won the final three bouts to capture the rubber match, 30-20, with Hunter Hall's pin in the 285-pound match sealing the victory for BU.

Additionally, the Wildcats sent a small contingent that competed at the Cougar Open in Great Bend, Kan., on Sunday.

Closing out the first part of the 2025-26 season, Baker will head into the holiday break and return to action on January 6 with a conference dual at William Woods scheduled for a 5 p.m. start in Fulton, Mo.

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