Mar. 26—OSKALOOSA — After well over a half century at its current venue, the William Penn baseball team is saying goodbye to Penn Field.
The William Penn baseball team took the first two contests of a four-game series against Grand View in a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader Saturday. In the final weekend at historic Penn Field, William Penn (17-8, 4-5 Heart) won by scores of 6-2 and 3-2 in eight innings.
Grand View got on the board first in the opener, putting up two runs in the first inning. William Penn was not able to get anything going until the third inning when Blair Speas got on with a double, followed by a walk from Franklin Aparicio. A couple batters later, Nick George came through with an RBI to plate Speas. Justin Martinez then doubled to center field to bring George and Aparicio around to score as the Statesmen took a 3-2 lead.
After giving up two runs in the first inning, George settled into the contest and gave up only two runs, none earned, on three hits, while striking out four batters and walking three in five innings of work.
William Penn got things going again in the fifth inning as a single by Martinez and a walk by Nathan Jessell put Martinez in scoring position for Abraham Arroyo who delivered an RBI single which scored Martinez. A batter later, Joel Holguin singled up the middle to bring in both Jessell and Arroyo.
Stetson Denning took over on the mound in the sixth inning for the Statesmen and shut down the Vikings to complete the victory. Denning did not permit a run nor a hit, while walking one and striking out three.
Multiple Statesmen had hits in the opener with Martinez leading the way with two hits and two RBIs, while Holguin came through with two RBIs. William Penn outhit Grand View 8-3.
The nightcap saw William Penn get on the board first as Tim Jean tripled in the first inning and then scored off a Grand view error.
Runs were hard to come by for both teams until Grand View tied the game 1-1 in the top of the sixth inning. William Penn responded in the bottom of the frame as Martinez singled before being pinch-run for by Logan Liese. Jessell then dropped a bunt down first base line to advance Lieser to second. Arroyo eventually singled up the middle to score Lieser and put William Penn up 2-1.
Unfortunately, Grand View was able to tie the game once more at 2-2 in the top of the seventh. William Penn had a chance to win in regular play as it loaded the bases with two outs, but could not come through and extra innings ensued.
Matt Shover, who came on in relief in the seventh inning, kept Grand View off the board in the eighth, giving William Penn a chance to walk it off. Holguin started the eighth with a walk and Speas delivered a double down the left field line to advance Holguin to third. Aparicio was then intentionally walked to load the bases for the Statesmen. Just 90 feet away, a pitch got past the Viking catcher which allowed Holguin to score from third win the winning run.
Speas led the Statesmen charge with three hits, while Jean was next as he tallied two hits of his own. Martinez, Jessell, Arroyo, and Schrock all came away with one hit as well.
Brian Thomas struck out nine as the starter for the Statesmen in six innings on the bump; the junior gave up two runs on four hits. Out of relief, Shover allowed only three hits while walking one batter and striking out two.
"We are very glad to get two wins from Grand View," William Penn head coach Mike Laird said. "We had timely hitting in the first game, but did not execute too well offensively in second, but hung on to win."
Weather has postponed Sunday's second doubleheader between William Penn and Grand View. The teams finished the series on Tuesday.
Beginning with next weekend's four-game series against MidAmerica Nazarene, the Statesmen will now host their home games at Oskaloosa's Lacey Recreation Complex. The new field, located on Stadium Drive, will be called Statesmen Ballpark. The complex is currently where William Penn's football, soccer, lacrosse, and track and field teams compete.
Penn Field will be kept as a practice facility for the team to use when desired.
