Baseball falls in finale, finishes third
On a cold and rainy day, the Wiley College baseball team struggled to make plays defensively, falling to Philander Smith College 11-6 in the regular season finale Sunday at Airport Park.
The Wildcats (20-18, 12-6 GCAC) fall in their second conference series and finish third in the conference standings. The Panthers locked up the fourth seed and their second conference series win.
Luis Mares went 2-for-3 with a double and a run. He was the only Wildcat with multiple hits. Jhan Carlos Javier hit a RBI double and drove in a second run with a sacrifice fly. Alexander San Miguel hit a RBI single. Ivan Del Villar hit a RBI double and scored a run. Colby Chilek came in as a defensive replacement and hit a RBI single. Emanuel Gutierrez hit a triple and scored a run. Devin Molina and Julian Rosales got base hits and scored runs.
Jalen Porter started and only went 2 2/3 innings. The rainy conditions caused several miscues for the Wildcat defense as it made five errors. Only five of the ten runs allowed by Porter were earned. He walked three, hit two and struck out five.
A.J. Garcia threw 1 1/3 innings and held Philander Smith to a hit and struck out one. Chance Guidry pitched four innings and held the Panthers to an unearned run on one hit. He struck out two batters. Dante Ennriquez pitched the ninth inning and held the Panthers scoreless.
Wiley College fell behind after allowing two runs on two hits and an error. Mares led off the first with a double. Javier brought him home with a double to left-center field. Alexander San Miguel tied the game with a single to right.
Philander Smith (12-20, 8-10 GCAC) put up five runs on two hits and two errors. It also benefited from two walks and a hit batter. In the third inning, Porter struck out the first batter but he reached on a passed ball. Two errors helped the Panthers tally three runs.
Gutierrez led off the third with a triple and scored on Del Villar's double. The Wildcats added runs in the fourth inning. Molina and Rosales got hits and advanced into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Darion Wallace. Mares loaded the bases with a walk. A wild pitch brought home Molina. Rosales scored on Javier's fly ball to center.
Guidry held the Panthers scoreless in three consecutive innings. The Wildcats were unable to take advantage as they only got two hits and didn't move a runner past second. Two walks and a passed ball helped Philander Smith tally a run in the eighth. Wiley College got a run in the ninth. Del Villar reached on a dropped third strike. A throwing error advanced him to third. Chilek brought him home with his single.
The Wildcats will open the 2023 GCAC Baseball Championship against sixth seed Oakwood University at noon on Thursday. They swept the Ambassadors on the road on March 16 and 19 outscoring them 59-2.
For more coverage on the Wildcats visit https://wileyathletics.com/sports/bsb/index
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