Conway, Ark.- The Warriors hosted the Dallas Crusaders for the first home series of the 2023 season beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday. Since 2017, the Warriors are 5-2 against the Crusaders with all five wins coming at home.
Game 1: Bryson Bales toed the rubber for his first start as a Warrior. He collected 7 strikeouts over the course of three innings of work to pick up the win while allowing one run on one hit and just three walks. Jackson Corrigan tossed two innings in relief and did not surrender a run. Corrigan was followed by Cade McWilliams, who gave the Warriors two solid innings to close the game out.
At the plate, the Warriors scored 12 runs on 13 hits and drew 6 walks. Adam Bland, Drake Job, and Austin Rabago were all good for multiple hits, and Bland was responsible for 3 RBIs. Two of Bland's hits were for extra bases, one being a double and the other being a solo homerun to start off the game. Joseph Watts posted the only other extra-base hit for the Warriors with a 2-RBI double. The final score was 12-1 in favor of the Warriors.
Game 2: Warrior pitchers David Blackburn and John Henry Fowler combined for 8 very strong innings on the mound, but the Warriors fell short, dropping game 2 by a score of 4-5. The starter, Blackburn, allowed 3 runs (2 earned), 5 hits, 3 walks, and collected 4 strikeouts. John Henry Fowler dazzled out of the bullpen, striking out 7 in his four full innings of work without allowing a run. In the ninth, Dallas plated 2 runs (both unearned) against Jacob Wagner to take the lead.
The Warrior bats were not nearly as hot in the second game of the day. David Ripple was the only Warrior to post more than one hit. Caleb Ougel and Rail Gilliam accounted for the Warriors' extra-base hits, each contributing a double. The catcher, Jacob Carpentier, drove in two of the four Warriors runs.
Game 3: Andrei Stoyanow made his first pitching appearance of the season for the Warriors. Stoyanow threw three great scoreless frames, only allowing one walk while striking out three. The Kapolei, Hawaii native looked to have some of his best stuff on the mound in an impressive first appearance. The bullpen for theWarriors was not as lights-out as Stoyanow, surrendering 13 runs following the Stoyanow to Tucker Isbell pitching change. Bobby Fowler, Nathan Silva, Jacob Wagner, and Miles Schluterman made appearances out of the bullpen. In true Schluterman form, he shut down the Crusaders' offense in the last one and one-thirds innings of the game.
The Warriors bounced back at the plate, generating 17 runs on 15 hits. Four hitters posted multiple hits in this contest: Adam Bland, Zach Marriott, Daniel Ripple, and Austin Rabago. Rabago and Bland had multi-hit games in two of three games this weekend. Daniel Ripple picked up a pair of hits making it so both Ripple brothers had a multi-hit game this weekend. Zach Marriott turned his weekend around on Sunday after a tough start in games 1 and 2, going 3 for 4 with a double and a towering homerun, accounting for 3 of the Warriors' RBIs.
The Warriors will be back in action at home on February 14 at 6:00pm to host the Ozarks Eagles. The game will be available to view at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/hendrix/
