Baseball Wins First Game of GPAC Tournament

Baseball made the trip to Yankton, S.D., to start the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Tournament on Wednesday afternoon. The Tigers took on Northwestern in the first game of the bracket and posted an 11-1 victory in eight innings.

Northwestern scored the first run of the game with an RBI-single in the third inning. Jerry Nix tied the game for Doane in the fifth inning with an RBI on a fielder's choice. Max Harris was on third base and headed home with the infield drawn in. However, the throw to the plate was wild which allowed Nix to move to second base. Later in the inning, Jordan Bond delivered a two-run single to plate Gage Ryba and Logan Amick. Aaron Vulcano followed with his third single in the first five innings and drove in his brother, Johnny Vulcano, for a 4-1 lead.

In the sixth inning, Ryba scored on a wild pitch for a four-run lead. Taiyo Takahashi started the scoring in the seventh inning as he drew a bases loaded walk to plate Johnny Vulcano. Justin Nevells plated Bond and Aaron Vulcano with an RBI-single for an 8-1 lead. Nix added an RBI on a groundout to drive in Takahashi to go up eight.

Doane loaded the bases in the eighth inning to set-up their opportunity to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule. Carter Roth pinch hit and singled to right field to drive in Johnny Vulcano and Takahashi to close out the game with two outs in the inning.

Riley Plummer started on the mound and threw a complete game to improve to 9-0 on the season. He went 8.0 innings, scattering nine hits and a walk while striking out three.

The Tigers had 10 hits and drew eight walks in the game. Aaron Vulcano went 3-for-4 with a run scored and one driven in. Amick went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Johnny Vulcano scored three runs in the game for Doane while Takahashi and Ryba scored two times apiece. Four players drove in two runs apiece: Bond, Nevells, Roth, and Nix.

Doane will face the winner of the Morningside/Mount Marty contest on Thursday, May 1, at 12 PM.