Baseball earns a split with Minnesota Morris

LAKELAND, Fla. – Trey Castile threw a career-high 13 strikeouts in the first game, Tyson McAlexander hit a grand slam in game two, and the Simpson College baseball team split a doubleheader with Minn.-Morris on Friday.

The Storm (7-7) earned a 10-3 win in the opener before falling 10-8 in a back-and-forth battle that featured three home runs.

GAME ONE BREAKDOWN

• Minnesota Morris (5-8) hit a couple of home runs early, but Simpson led 4-2 after three innings. Joel Sampson drew a bases-loaded walk, Dalton Ferrin hit a sacrifice fly, and Drew Carlson knocked in two runs with a single to left field.
• The Storm added two more runs in the top of the fifth after loading the bags with three straight walks to start the frame. Kasey Carter plated the first run with a sacrifice fly before Austin Parkins registered his first collegiate RBI with a base hit up the middle.
• Simpson took advantage of three hits and two errors in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 10-2. Carlson, Sampson, Ian Baldwin and Will Carlock were all credited with RBIs.
• The Cougars got one run back in the home half of the seventh, but were shut down from there thanks to a flyout and Trey Castile's 13th strikeout of the game.
• Castile earned his second-straight complete game victory on the mound, improving to 4-0 on the year.

GAME ONE LEADERS

• Trey Castile: 7.0 IP, 13 strikeouts
• Ian Baldwin: 3 hits, 1 RBI
• Drew Carlson: 2 hits, 3 RBI, 1 run, 1 walk
• Joel Sampson: 2 RBI

GAME TWO BREAKDOWN

• Ten of the game's 18 runs were scored in the second inning alone as both squads put up five runs. Simpson's scoring came from an RBI single by Kasey Carter and a clutch grand slam from Tyson McAlexander.
• The two teams matched scoring in the third inning as well as Blake Imhoff hit an RBI single for the Cougars and Nate Cagley sent one over the fence for the Storm.
• Minnesota Morris capitalized on a home run of its own the next inning to grab a 9-5 advantage.
• After a scoreless fifth, the Cougars added one to their total to extend the lead to five.
• A double by Will Carlock followed by a single from Cagley trimmed the deficit to 10-8, but the Storm were unable to close the gap completely and settled for the split.

GAME TWO LEADERS

• Nate Cagley: 3 hits (1 home run), 2 RBI, 1 run
• Tyson McAlexander: 2 hits (1 grand slam), 4 RBI, 1 run
• Kasey Carter: 2 hits, 1 RBI, 1 run, 1 walk
• Drew Carlson: 2.0 IP, 4 strikeouts

UP NEXT
The Storm will play one final game in the Sunshine State against Lawrence on Saturday morning at 8:15 a.m. CT.