Jansen, Held tally complete games for Simpson

AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- Tanner Jansen and Brady Held both pitched complete games to guide the Simpson baseball team to a sweep of Utica on Sunday on opening day action for the Storm.

Simpson (2-0) won 10-0 in the first contest and escaped a 1-0 nailbiter in the evening showdown against the Pioneers (0-2).

The Storm are off to their first 2-0 start since 2011 when team started 3-0. Simpson will take on Curry on Monday at 12:15 p.m. (CT).

Simpson 10, Utica 0 (seven innings)
Jansen got his afternoon started with a quick strikeout in the opening frame and ended the first by stranding a runner at third. Since that threat, Jansen putt the Pioneers down in order in three straight innings and gave up a leadoff single to start the sixth and went one-two-three in the seventh to close things out.

The Storm's offense erupted for five runs in the fourth to opening the scoring for the 2019 season. Truman Schmitt started the inning with a single and was able to move to third after a walk and sacrifice bunt by Brandon Urias moved him to third. Schmitt scored on a wild pitch.

Brady Held would smoke a triple and Zach Hollingsworth answered with a double to highlight the six-hit frame for Simpson. The Storm would tally a run in the fifth and four more in the sixth to add some insurance runs.

Noah Sacco finished with a triple and RBI, while Josh Breitbarth and Schmitt led the squad with three hits each. As a unit, Simpson had 16 base hits, its most since claiming 18 against Monmouth (Ill.) on March 18.

Jansen concluded his opening day start with a line of four hits, six strikeouts, two walks and faced 24 batters, just three over the minimum in the seven innings of play.

Simpson 1, Utica 0 (seven innings)
Held was dealing on the mound in his first outing on the hill for Simpson and finished with 13 strikeouts and only gave up one hit.

Held retired the first five batters he faced before giving up a double. Held was bailed out by Breitbarth who gunned down a would-be base stealer at third to end the inning. He would allow two more batters to reach base via walk during the game.

On offense, the Storm tallied their only run in the second inning. Brandon Urias reached on a single and would score from second on a base hit from Richie Hintz, who tallied his first career RBI.

Simpson sprayed five hits across the field during the contest, with one being a double from Schmitt.