Storm fall in close-knit battle at home

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- In the series rubber match on Tuesday, Nebraska Wesleyan snuck out of McBride Field with a 7-5 victory over the Simpson baseball squad.

The Storm (11-10, 3-6 A-R-C) forced the Prairie Wolves (5-16, 3-6 A-R-C) to commit five errors in the game and out-hit the visitors 11 to 9, but could still not overpower them for a win.

Nebraska Wesleyan put Simpson on its heels early and placed three runners on base in the opening frame with no outs, but Brady Held bunkered down and struck out the next three batters to keep it scoreless.

Held was in a groove after that and recorded a strikeout in each inning until the sixth inning, which he recorded two. In that same inning, fatigued started to hit the freshman as he neared the century mark in pitches and was pulled after walking the bases loaded.

The Prairie Wolves were able to capitalize on the pitching change and scored three runs coming off a double to take a 5-4 lead.

The Storm answered in the bottom of the sixth to tie it after Kolton Arnold had an RBI double to plate Josh Breitbarth.

The visitors were able to score two runs in the top of the ninth to go out in front 7-5 and held on to win after Simpson had runners on first and second with only one out, but were left stranded.

To open the cap in the scoring column, Simpson jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the first. Brandon Urias drilled a two-run double. In the next inning, the squad added another run to its lead after the Prairie Wolves committed an error.

Held finished with nine strikeouts and Brett Kauzlarich was credited with the loss after pitching the last 3.1 innings in relief.

Breitbarth finished with three hits and Arnold had two while pushing his hit streak to nine games. Nathan Carlin had a nice evening and ripped two base knocks and he also drew two base on-balls.

Simpson returns back to the diamond on Friday to take on Loras. The two teams wrap-up the series on Saturday with a doubleheader.