Baseball Halves at Day One of the Joplin Invitational

Joplin, Mo. – The Graceland University Baseball team took on the Joplin Invitational, competing against the Hastings College Broncos and the Columbia College (Mo.) Cougars. The Yellowjackets took down the Broncos in game one and fell to the Cougars.

Season Record: Graceland 2-2 | Hastings 0-5
Game 1: Graceland 4 | Hasting 3

The Scoring – Game 1
B2 – The Yellowjackets would cross the plate frost with an Austin Wheeler home run over centerfield (GU:1 | HC:0)
B3 – Zach Tanabe drilled a double to the left, scoring Bryan Paez. An RBI single from Austin Wheeler would bring Zach Tanabe to home plate (GU:3 | HC:0)
T5 – The Broncos would get on the board with an over-the-fence two-run homerun. A single would even the score (GU:3 | HC:3)
B5 – J Lopez would end the game by scoring with a long ball over centerfield (GU:4 | HC:3)


Game 1 Individual Leaders
Izaac Rabelo went five innings for the win; he would face 21 batters.
Stephen Eskridge would step to the mound for the save, faced eight batters and had three strikeouts.
The Yellowjackets had seven hits, led by Austin Wheeler and Zach Tanabe
Hits produced; 2B: Bryan Paez, Zach Tanabe, JD Woodruff
HR: Jacob Lopez, Austin Wheeler
RBI: Jacob Lopez, Zach Tanabe, Austin Wheeler (2)
Stolen Bases: Zach Tanabe, and Kato Dougan

Season Record: Graceland 2-3 | Columbia (Mo.) 8-1
Game 2: Graceland 1 | Columbia (Mo.) 8

The Scoring – Game 2
B1 – The Cougars tallied two runs on a RBI homerun (GU:0 | CC:2)
T3 – Gabriel Perez would cross the plate on a Columbia passed ball (GU:1 | CC:2)
B4 – CC adds four from an RBI single and homerun, and a Yellowjacket error (GU:1 | CC:6)
B6 – A Cougar RBI single and double would cap off the scoring (GU:1 | CC:8)

The Yellowjackets would get on the board with a Kamaehu Sanchez three homerun, scoring Javin Stevenson and Zach Tanabe. Spires would walk Jacob Lopez and Gabriel Perez; Darwin Marquez and Travis Vaala would cross the plate (GU:5 | CC:0)

Game 2 Individual Leaders
Rafael Severino went had 3.1 innings, faced 19 batters, and had seven strikeouts.
The Yellowjackets had two hits from Matt Klonsinski and Bryan Paez.

Up Next:
Baseball will be back on Sunday, February 19, to take on day two of the Joplin Invitational. the Yellowjackets will take on Roosevelt University Lakers, starting at 12:30 pm. In game two, they take on the Morningside University Mustangs; the first pitch is at 3:00 pm.

-Yellowjackets-