CUW Falls Twice to Golden Gusties

TUCSON, Ariz. - The Falcons fell twice to the Golden Gusties of Gustavus Adolphus College on Monday with final scores of 4-9 and 4-17, falling to 2-3 on the season.

Following the top of the second, the Golden Gusties built a 2-0 lead.

But the Falcons would scratch a pair of runs in their half of the second to knot it up at 2-2.

With two outs, junior Brynden Cleveland (Crestwood, Ill.) drew a walk after battling to a full count to give CUW their first base runner of the day.

In the next at-bat, senior Cole Aguirre (Chino Hills, Calif.) delivered a double to left field as Cleveland turned on the jets to round third and score.

Junior Owen Burns (Morris, Ill.) then slapped a single over the head of the third baseman and into left field to bring home Aguirre and level the score at two apiece.

In the top of the third, in his collegiate pitching debut, freshman Luke Kearney (Tinley Park, Ill.) forced a lineout double play, as the ball was ripped over to sophomore Matt Miller (Fredonia, Wis.) and then over to freshman second baseman Jordan Vazquez (Chicago, Ill.) to keep the Golden Gusties scoreless.

However, Gustavus would retake their lead in the top of the fourth with two runs to put the score at 4-2 in GAC's favor.

But the Blue and White would tack on one run in their half of the inning as Cole Aguirre had a triple to left center and eventually reached home after an error to put CUW within one.

The top of the fifth inning saw Gustavus tack on four runs in.

Looking to start the comeback, Brynden Cleveland knocked in Kyle Flynn to put the score at 8-4.

However, the comeback effort from the Falcons fell flat as they suffered an 8-4 loss in game one of their doubleheader.

Cole Aguirre had a team-high two hits, including the lone triple for CUW.

In his first start of the year, senior Tyler Drezek (West Allis, Wis.) went two complete innings.

Meanwhile, junior Matthew Ward (West Dundee, Ill.) pitched three complete innings and faced a game-high six batters.

Looking to average their first game loss, the Falcons started the scoring in the top of the first as a single from Jimmy Juergensen dribbled down the left field line to score Kyle Flynn, who tripled in the previous at-bat.

After a Matt Miller single, Brynden Cleveland hit a deep double to right center to bring in Juergensen and Miller to give CUW the 3-0 lead after the top of the first.

But the Golden Gusties' offense picked up where they left off and tied the game at 3-3.

Meanwhile, the top of the second saw freshman Ryan Le (Orland Park, Ill.) single to center to score fellow freshman Jordan Vazquez.

But once again, Gustavus would respond and score three runs in their half of the inning to take the 6-4 lead over the Falcons.

For the remainder of the contest, Gustavus continued to build on their lead and hold CUW scoreless, eventually taking the 17-4 victory.

In the effort, Brynden Cleveland led CUW with a pair of hits and pair of RBIs.

Sophomore Tyler Bartczak (Crestwood, Ill.) faced a game-high 18 batters, striking out three.

Meanwhile, senior Michael Machamer (Lake Zurich, Ill.) recorded a strike in his first appearance of the season.

The Falcons will resume Tucson action on Wednesday, March 5th, to take on a familiar opponent in the Firebirds of Carthage College.