Wildcats Silence Yellowjackets Bats, Sweep Second Straight Heart Series

BALDWIN CITY – Backed by a pair of dominating performances from its starting pitchers, the No. 7 Baker softball team defeated Graceland in both games of its doubleheader on Thursday night at Cavaness Field to earn a conference sweep for the second time this week.

After sweeping Clarke on Tuesday, the Wildcats came right back in their makeup series with the Yellowjackets to take game one by a score of 7-1 before securing their 15th shutout of the season on a 2-0 victory in game two.

BU starters Skylar Gorrell and Makayla Akin limited Graceland to just one run on the day while recording a combined 18 strikeouts with Akin picking up her second shutout of the year.

BU 7, GU 1
Baker scored in four straight innings of the opener, boosted by a four-run sixth that gave a cruising Gorrell more than enough support for her 10th win of the spring.

Bailey Shuman scored the game's first run in the bottom of the third, coming across on a sac fly by Kerstyn Finch before a Yellowjackets error allowed Savannah Bray to score in the fourth to give the Wildcats a two-run cushion.

With the bases loaded in the fifth, Akin put a ball in play between the circle and home plate that just got out of the reach of the Graceland catcher and brought Sydney Goss into score.

After Graceland cut into the BU lead in the top of the sixth on a bases-loaded walk, the Wildcats came right back in the home half of the sixth to launch their lead out to 7-1 with Mary Grace Hess sparking the rally on an RBI single.

Finch capped the big inning with a two-out triple that resulted in a couple of runs scored as the junior shortstop was able to come all the way home on a Yellowjackets miscue.

BU 2, GU 0
Akin followed up Gorrell's one-run outing from game one with a terrific pitching display of her own in the second game of the doubleheader, recording a one-hitter and tallying eight strikeouts to keep the Yellowjackets off the board.

Graceland starter Samantha Bradshaw battled Akin in the circle with both hurlers tossing four straight scoreless innings as the Wildcats were able to scratch a run across in the early and late stages of the contest.

The scoring started quick for BU in game two with leadoff hitter Straight reaching by way of an error and eventually coming home to score on an RBI groundout from Gorrell. Straight moved over to second on a Finch sacrifice before stealing third to position herself to race home on Gorrell's slow-roller.

With the pitching keeping things quiet for most of the game, Finch supplied the Wildcats with an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth as she clubbed her sixth home run of the season on a solo shot to left center to cap the scoring at 2-0.

Baker hosts Missouri Valley for a two-game set on Saturday, April 22 at 1 p.m. at Cavaness Field for a Senior Day celebration where the Wildcats will honor seniors Makayla Akin, Emma Ancira, Masyn Burnsides, Skylar Gorrell, Sydney Goss, Morgan Loggins and Parker Straight.

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