Wildcats Stumble in Tough Weekend Road Trip to Iowa

CEDAR RAPIDS/DUBUQUE, Iowa - The Baker softball team came up short in a couple of tough matchups of its weekend road outings at Clarke and Mount Mercy before salvaging a victory against the Mustangs in the final game of the trip.

The Wildcats suffered a pair of one-run heartbreakers to the Pride on Saturday, 7-6 and 9-8, with the second game of the doubleheader going nine innings. After falling to Mount Mercy in game one on Sunday, BU avoided the weekend sweep with a 10-8 victory in the finale.

CU 7, BU 6
In their first game of the weekend, the Wildcats let a 6-4 lead slip late as the Pride tagged a go-ahead homer in the sixth to steal the series opener.

After Rachel Pederson opened up BU's scoring in the top of the first, Miley Rowe belted her first home run as a Wildcat with a two-run shot to give Baker a 3-0 lead right out of the gate. Gracee Fryberger followed suit of her teammate and connected on her first dinger of the spring with a solo homer in the second.

Ashlee Jackman and Taryn Hull drove in the final two runs for BU, but Clarke used a four-run second to keep things close and eventually tied the game with a two-run bottom of the fifth. The hosts would take the lead for good in the sixth with their go-ahead winner.

CU 9, BU 8 (9 inn.)
The two teams turned around and topped their game one theatrics with a nine-inning thriller in the nightcap that saw the Pride win it on a walk-off double.

Once again, the Wildcats built up a big lead, scoring six unanswered runs with RBI from Jackman and Emilee Burke in the second, followed by a four-run fifth for BU. Jackman and Burke each knocked in another run in the fifth, while Hull and Sydney Kill each contributed to the scoring as well.

Clarke came roaring back in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game before Miley Rowe's RBI single pushed Baker back in front in the sixth. CU sent the game to extras in the seventh and both teams traded a run in the overtime before the Pride's game-winner in the bottom of the ninth.

MMU 8, BU 5
On Sunday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Wildcats were the ones trying to string together some late magic, but had their seventh-inning rally fall short in an 8-5 setback in game one.

After the Mustangs took a one-run lead, Ava Greiner drove in a pair of runs in the top of the fourth and Pederson followed with an RBI triple to make it a 3-1 lead for BU. The Mustangs reclaimed the lead in the fourth and ran it up to 8-3 until the Wildcats scored a couple of runs in the seventh.

BU 10, MMU 8
Baker's offense willed the team to a 10-8 victory in the weekend finale, overcoming a seven-run barrage from the Mustangs in the fifth.

Gracie Gallagher roped a bases-clearing triple in the first to give BU a 3-0 headstart, Jackman launched a two-run homer in the third and Greiner's RBI single in the fourth made it a 6-1 lead for BU before the Mustangs' big inning.

Trailing by two in the sixth, Pederson legged out another triple for the Wildcats to bring them within one and Jackman continued her hitting tear with a game-tying RBI single. Greiner came through with the Wildcats' biggest hit of the day, bringing home the final two runs in the seventh to cap the win for the Wildcats.

With the game already being postponed from its original date due to weather, Baker will play its makeup series against William Woods today, March 31, with first pitch being moved up to Noon on Sauder Field.

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