Pilots open CRL play with home win over IWU

MISHAWAKA, Ind. – The Bethel College baseball team secured their first Crossroads League victory of the season behind a dominant starting pitching performance from Kory Goodrich, who went 8-plus innings of scoreless ball, while Jesse Zepeda delivered the big blow with a three-run home run in the sixth inning to power the Pilots to a victory over Indiana Wesleyan 5-0.

GAME VITALS

• Score: Bethel def. Indiana Wesleyan 5-0
• Records: Bethel (9-8, 1-0) | Indiana Wesleyan (13-8, 0-1)
• NAIA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll: Bethel – not rated | Indiana Wesleyan – not rated
• Location: Jenkins Stadium | Bethel College | Mishawaka, Ind.

STAT TRACKER

• Jesse Zepeda: 2-4, HR, 3 RBI, 1 R
• Collin Affolder: 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 R
• Mike Wathier: 0-3, SF, 1 RBI
• Luke Adams: 1-3, 1 R
• Kory Goodrich: 8 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 11 K

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

• The Pilots got out of a second inning jam, with the bases loaded and one out, getting a strike out and a ground out to end the inning to preserve a scoreless game.
• Kory Goodrich notched career-highs with 146 pitches, getting 11 strikeouts to four bases on balls.
• The Pilots tallied their 14^th home run of the season with a Jesse Zepeda three-run bomb on the first pitch he saw in the sixth inning, to match their season total of round-trippers from last season.
• The Pilots racked up another inning with at least 4 runs, to up their season total to 16 at bats to put up at least four runs on the board.

NEXT TIME OUT

• The Pilots rematch against Indiana Wesleyan on Saturday, March 17 with a double-header starting at 12pm.

The Pilots compete in 18 intercollegiate sports for men and women. The Bethel College Athletic Department earned the NAIA Champion of Character Five-Star Gold Institution and produced 17 NAIA Scholar-Teams last season. While accumulating 3 NAIA National Championships and 33 NCCAA National Championships by 10 different athletic teams, Bethel has also produced 143 NAIA All-American honors and 309 NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors over the past decade. Bethel College is an accredited Christian college offering associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees in more than 70 areas of study.