Baseball Holds Off Waldorf in Game One

Baseball opened their weekend four-game series at Waldorf on Saturday afternoon in Forest City, Iowa, for the first meeting as GPAC foes. This marks the first time Doane has made the trip to Forest City with the previous six meetings taking place either in Crete or at a neutral site. The teams last played in 2018. The Tigers took the opener, 14-12.

The Warriors took an early lead with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first. Doane came back in the second inning with a three-run home run by Jordan Bond to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead. Johnny Vulcano extended the lead in the third inning with a solo home run only to have Waldorf plate a run in the bottom of the inning, leaving Doane in front, 4-3. 

In the fourth inning, Doane exploded for seven runs. Bond led off the inning with his second home run of the game. Logan Amick drove in Justin Nevells for a 6-3 lead. Johnny Vulcano plated Amick with an RBI-single and Brayden Jones followed with a three-run home run to go up by seven runs. Aaron Vulcano homered for back-to-back home runs to give the Tigers an 11-3 lead.

Waldorf came back with a run in the fifth and three in the sixth to cut the Doane lead to 11-7. Sam Kwapnioski hit a three-run home run in the seventh to push the Tiger lead back to seven runs, 14-7. The Warriors were able to plate five runs in the bottom of the seven before Doane was able to close out the game.

Kaden Crawford started for Doane and went 5.0 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out five. Cade Bridges threw 1.1 innings, allowing seven runs on five hits and three walks with two strikeouts. Raidyn Steele picked up the final two outs, allowing one run on one hit.

Doane had 15 hits in the game, including eight extra base hits. The Tigers had six home runs, one shy of the school record. Johnny Vulcano was 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI while Gerald Nix added a 3-for-4 game. Kwapnioski, Aaron Vulcano, and Bond had two hits apiece. Bond led the team with four RBI.

Official game time was 2:30 with game two starting 30 minutes after the final out was recorded.