WHEATON, Ill. – The University of Dubuque baseball team traveled to play against Wheaton College (Ill.) for a nonconference game on Tuesday night. Despite tying the game in the seventh inning, the Spartans fell 10-9.
The Thunder (8-10, 1-1 CCIW) scored five runs in the first inning to take an early lead. The Spartans cut their deficit to four in the second inning when Vic Pico drove a pitch into left field to score Ashr Harris. Wheaton stretched their lead to 7-1 in the fourth inning via a balk and a wild pitch. In the fifth, Zavion Ingram took advantage of a dropped third strike and scored from second base, cutting Wheaton's lead to 7-2. Wheaton responded by plating two more runs in the home half of the fifth. Ingram scored in the next inning on a balk and Ryan Turner came around to score on an errant pickoff attempt, making the score 9-4 in favor of the Thunder. The Spartans put together a rally in the seventh inning, scoring five to tie the contest at nine runs apiece. The rally was driven by a single from Logan Cadenhead and a bases-clearing triple from Ingram. Turner laced a ground ball to the shortstop one batter later, scoring Ingram and tying the game. Wheaton strung together a two-out rally in their half of the seventh and retook the lead 10-9. The Spartans could not muster any offense in the final two innings and ultimately fell 10-9.
Matthew Risser started the game for the Spartans on the mound. After working through a long first inning, he posted two scoreless frames and departed having allowed seven hits and five runs. Despite a strong relief outing, Jaden Marcus was tagged with the loss after giving up the tiebreaking run across 2.2 innings where he only allowed two hits. Harris tossed a scoreless eighth for the Spartans to keep the deficit at one run heading into the ninth.
At the plate, Ingram had a day to remember, tallying three hits. He scored three times, drove in two runs, and stole two bases while registering a triple for one of the biggest hits of his career. Cadenhead and Will Sullivan also added multiple hits for the Spartans on Tuesday. Alex Esser and Brady Buchmann each walked twice as well.
Up Next
The Spartans will return to conference play with a three-game home set against red-hot Luther College this upcoming weekend. Friday's contest (Mar. 27) will begin at 3:00 p.m. at Dan. W Runkle Field while first pitch for Saturday's (Mar. 28) doubleheader will be at 1:00 p.m.
