In a pair of back-and-forth games, Winfield-Mount Union came away with the victory in both halves of a diamond doubleheader at Pekin Friday night. WMU baseball matched Pekin’s two runs in the first inning with two of their own in the second, but the Panthers struck again in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-2 lead.
The Wolves did all the scoring over the next two innings to tie the game at 5, and they would have an answer for every punch Pekin threw down the stretch. When the Panthers scored twice in the fifth, WMU scored three runs in the sixth for their first lead of the night. After the home team tied the game going into the final inning, Winfield-Mount Union scored twice in the top of the seventh and held the Panthers to just one run in the bottom half to earn the 10-9 victory.
Senior catches Grant Watson had two hits and two runs batted in for the Wolves, while senior designated hitter Preston Prior also had two hits and scored three runs. Junior Cael Phillips was the winning pitcher, throwing the last five innings and striking out six to help Winfield-Mount Union improve to 4-3 in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North and 4-6 overall.
Just like their first meeting with Pekin in the season opener, a game they won 28-27, WMU softball was roped into another slugfest Friday evening. The Panthers had a 9-5 lead before the first inning was over, but the Wolves would stiffen defensively and allow Pekin to only score two more runs, both in the fourth. Meanwhile, the Winfield-Mount Union lineup struck for three runs in the second and five each in the fifth and sixth innings en route to a 20-11 win.
Senior catcher Anna Anderson had a big night at the plate for the Wolves, as three of her four hits were doubles and she drove in three runs. Senior infielder Keely Malone had three hits, including a double, and four RBI, while freshman pitcher Quin Smith tripled in one of her two hits and came up with three RBI. WMU softball is now 3-6 in conference play and 3-7 overall. Both Winfield-Mount Union teams next play at Danville tonight.