Tuesday afternoon matched Grand View University (19-16, 10-6 MCC) at home against William Penn University (19-11, 10-4 MCC) in a battle for the top spot among the Midwest Collegiate Conference standing. Heading into Tuesday's game, both teams were a half-game back of first place in the conference standings. William Penn used a late ninth inning rally and timely hitting in extra innings to take a narrow 9-8 victory in Des Moines.
Unlike most contests this season Grand View was not able to score the first run of the game, as William Penn got on the board in the top half of the first inning. But the Vikings offense got started in the bottom of the fourth, scoring three runs on two hits. All three runs in the fourth inning came with two outs when senior Jeff Brooks homered, scoring sophomore Brady Wathen and junior Matt Dunn. The Statesmen answered in the top half of the next inning with three runs of their own to take a 4-3 advantage. With the score still standing at 4-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Grand View's Marc Mericle singled to left field to lead off the inning. Sophomore Curtis Quijano followed Mericle with a single to right field. Mericle scored on the next pitch when William Penn's Jorge Quezada threw a passed ball and Quijano was drove home on Dunn's sacrifice fly to left field.
The Vikings added to their 5-4 lead with two more runs in the bottom of the eighth. Wathen drove home his first run of the game when he doubled left field. Wathen scored on Brooks' single to left field, giving the Vikings a 7-4 lead heading into the top half of the ninth inning. Grand View's closer Jason Davila came into the game and got the first William Penn batter to ground out to short. The following Statesmen batter singled to right field and the next doubled to left field, scoring their first run of the ninth inning. Davila got the next William Penn hitter to strike out swinging to get the second out of the inning. However, the next to two hitters reached base and then Eddie Sobczak homered to take a one-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. Trailing by one run, Grand View's Corey Burnes continued his strong play, driving home the tying run with a double. In the top of the tenth inning William Penn scored one run on two hits and the Vikings were unable to answer with a run in the bottom half of the inning, giving William Penn the 9-8 victory.
Grand View was led in hitting by Cory Burnes with three hits and one RBI. Brooks and Wathen both finished with two hits, while Brooks led the Vikings with four RBIs. Sophomore Sean Wright took the loss for the Vikings, while junior Richard Romero pitched two innings for the Statesmen to get the win in relief.
Grand View will be action again on Wednesday, April 14th at 4:00 p.m. when they host Waldorf College in Des Moines. The Vikings will also be home for the weekend when Clarke College travels to Des Moines for a three game series.
