KCAC

[Baseball] Baseball Falcons drop series opener at Sterling

Sterling, Kan. – The Sterling College Warriors scored late to upend the Friends University Falcons 6-5 in today's (Apr. 21) series opener in Sterling, Kan.Trailing 1-0 into the sixth, the Falcons jumped on top with bases-loaded walks to Oliver Dunn (SO/Endeavour Hills, Australia) and Devon Lujan (SO/Olathe, Kan.) and then took a two-run lead with an RBI groundout from Sam Engberg (JR/Kearney, Neb. ).An RBI single by Uziel Santos in the sixth ignited a run of four unanswered tallies by the Warriors that put the Falcons in a two-run deficit after seven innings.The Falcons again fought back behind a two-run double by Zeke Henson (SO/Raymore, Mo. ) that plated both Ryan Sylvester (SO/Tallahassee, Fla) and Engberg to pull even in the eighth inning.But the Warriors produced the eventual game-winning run when Elijah Howard hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth.The Falcons managed to load the bases with two outs in the ninth, but Dustin Chartrand got his second strikeout of the frame to close out the win and pick up the save.Buster Hardman (JR/American Fork, Utah) led the Falcons (21-21, 15-13 KCAC) with two hits, with Nolan Crumrine (SO/Sedgwick, Kan.) starting and lasting 5.1 innings with three earned runs allowed and a pair of strikeouts.The Warriors (18-26, 10-18 KCAC) were paced by the top of their order, as Luis Morales and Elvis Rumaldo each had four hits hitting 1-2 in the lineup.The Falcons and Warriors will conclude the weekend series tomorrow (Apr. 22) with a twinbill starting at 1 pm.