Southwestern pitcher Klaeton Hendricks tossed a two-hitter against Iowa-Grant on Friday as the Wildcats had a six-run sixth inning to help defeat the Panthers 10-0.
The lone two hits by the Panthers came in the second inning by Brody Lindner and Ayson Speth. The Panthers had bases loaded with two outs, but any chance of scoring ended on Will Fulton’s fly out to end the inning.
Southwestern scored two runs in the bottom of the third inning and two runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it 4-0. Iowa-Grant again had bases loaded in the top half of the fifth inning but was unable to score a run.
The Panthers again had bases loaded in the top half of the sixth inning after two batters were hit by a pitch and Fulton reached on an error, but Hendricks stuck out Everett Zimmer for the third out to end the threat.
The flood gates opened in the bottom half of the sixth for the Wildcats as they were able to get bases loaded courtesy of a walk, a dropped third strike and a batter hit by pitch. With bases loaded, Lucas Foley was hit by a pitch scoring a run. Five consecutive singles, and six runs later, the game ended on a ten-run rule.
Three Panther pitchers, Speth, Liam Hildreth and Maddox Fisher allowed eleven hits, and ten runs. They stuck out nine batters and walked three.
Hendricks allowed two hits, no runs. He struck out six and walked four for the Wildcats. Offensively the Wildcats were led at the plate by Clayton Keleher and Miles Redfearn who each had three hits.