Held hurls gem, Storm split Sunday doubleheader

FULTON, Mo. -- Brady Held tallied eight strikeouts to lead the Simpson baseball team to its second win of the young season on Sunday to split the doubleheader at Westminster to close out the four-game series.

On the back of Held's six-inning performance, the Storm (2-4) exploded for a 15-2 rout of the Blue Jays, before dropping game two, 11-4.

Noah Sacco and Brandon Urias ended with four hits apiece, while Urias ripped his first homer this season. Truman Schmitt hit his third home run in two days, to go along with two runs batted in on the day.

Game One
Simpson 15, Westminster 2
The scoring started early for Simpson as the offense pushed five runs across in the first three innings. Urias drove in Schmitt in the first after smoking a double down the left field line before Matthew Marquez connected on a single to score Held.

Luke Willis started the second inning with a single and scored on a Ryan Willis base hit to make it 3-0. Ryan Willis later scored in the frame after Schmitt grounded into a double play. In the third, Tyrese Moore tallied his first RBI of the year as he hit in Kolton Arnold.

In the bottom of the fourth, Westminster finally pushed a run across on a home run to snap Held's hitless streak in the contest. The Storm responded in the top of the fifth with a run to make it 6-1.

The Simpson offense erupted for nine runs on seven hits in the top of the sixth to pull away. Held and Urias drove in a run each to start the scoring spree in the inning, before Brashaw delivered the blow with a three-run double. Sacco sprinted to third on a RBI triple and later scored on a wild pitch, just ahead of Schmitt connecting on his homer.

Westminster tallied two hits in the sixth to score a run to make it a 15-2 contest. Held allowed the hosts to get four hits for his first victory of the season. Dillon Berg pitched the seventh inning for the Storm and allowed the Blue Jays to put two on base, but finished the game with back-to-back outs.

Game Two
Westminster 11, Simpson 4
In the series finale, Simpson grabbed an early 1-0 tilt in the top of the first as Schmitt drilled a double to score Sacco. The lead didn't last long as Westminster scored six runs in the bottom of the frame with the help of a grand slam.

The Storm scored a run in the top of the second and third frames, but were unable to trim the deficit as the Blue Jays tallied five runs during that span to push the lead to 11-3.

Both teams remained scoreless through the next two innings, just before Urias hit a solo home run in the sixth to put the lid of the scoring for both teams.

Of Simpson's 10 hits in the game, five were for extra bases. Held, Moore and Schmitt each had two hits to pace the squad. Zach Hollingsworth was tacked with the loss.

Up Next
The Storm travel to the Sunshine State this week to start their spring break trip. Simpson takes on Wells on Thursday in Auburndale, Fla.