The Beaver baseball team opened their 2023 season this past week taking on Allen County in a four-game series. Pratt hosted Allen County on February 2 for the first two games and then Pratt traveled to Iola, KS on February 5 to finish the series. Both teams meet last season with Pratt taking the four-game series 3-1. All four games took place at Allen County.
Game One
Game one was full of action as eight combined runs were scored in the first inning. Pratt held a 5-3 advantage after the inning. In the second inning both teams brought across six runs for a 11-9 Beaver lead. The Red Devils would pull within one run in the third inning. The fourth inning was the only scoreless inning of the game. After the fifth inning, the game was tied 12-12. Pratt scored two runs in the sixth inning and Allen County responded in the seventh with two runs. The game headed into extra innings tied 14-14. In the bottom of the eighth inning Gavin Djurovic hit a walk off single for a 15-14 Beaver win.
Marcelo Aguirre led the team with three hits. Djurovic, Miles Hartman, and Drew Bugner all have two hits in the game. Bugner led the team with four RBIs. The Beavers had 14 hits in the game with zero errors. Pitcher Alex Gillig was awarded the win with 3.0 innings pitched with three strikeouts.
Game Two
The Beavers struggled to get the bats going in the second game of the series. Only down two runs after five innings of play, Allen County added seven runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 9-0 win. The game was called after the sixth inning due to the temperature. The Beavers were held hitless in game two and struck out nine times. Curtis Anderson was handed the loss for the Beavers pitching four innings and giving up four hits, two runs, and one homerun.
Game Three
Pratt took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Pratt held Allen County to only one run in the bottom of the fifth inning to win game three 3-1. Freshman Tytin Goebel lead the team with two hits and two RBIs. Marcelo Aguirre picked up his first win on the mound this season. Over four innings pitched he gave up two hits and struck out four batters.
Game Four
Pratt scored the first run of the game in the top of the third inning. A half inning later the Red Devils brought home three runs to take a 3-1 lead. Pratt responded with two runs in the fourth inning to tie it 3-3. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Allen County brought home another run to take a 4-3 lead. In the sixth inning, Pratt scored four runs to take a 7-4 lead. In the seventh inning both teams scored two runs as Pratt won game four 9-6 and the series 3-1.
Marcelo Aguirre led the team with three hits and two runs in four plate appearances. Pratt finished game four with nine hits, eight RBIs, and eight strikeouts. Xander Roberts came out of the pin for 3.2 innings and was awarded his first win of the season. Roberts gave up three hits for two runs. He finished his day with two strikeouts.
The Beavers will travel to Fort Scott, KS for a four-game series against the Greyhounds on February 10 and 11.
