The William Jewell baseball team swept the final two games of the four game series with Rockhurst University on Saturday afternoon by scores of 8-6 and 9-5. The Cardinals move to 16-7 overall, 3-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference while the Hawks fall to 10-15, and 1-3 in league play.

In the top of the third inning of game one, after being held to just one hit through the first two frames, junior Tanner Foerschler stepped in the box and blasted his first career home run to left field to give Jewell a 1-0 lead. Drew Standifer followed with a solo bomb of his own, this time to right field, for back-to-back long balls for the Cardinals.

The Hawks battled back in the bottom of the frame as they plated three runs on four hits to take a 3-2 lead after three complete innings. Rockhurst added another in the following inning.

In the top of the fifth Standifer was hit by a pitch to put a runner on for Garrett McKinzie who blasted a ball well over the left field fence to tie the game at four.

In the back-and-forth game, the momentum went back to the other side as Rockhurst strung together three hits to score three runs and take a 6-4 lead into the seventh inning.

In the top of the final frame the Cards put together a rally as Tyler Carpenter came off the bench to rope a single to left field and was then pinch ran for by Luke Viestenz. Foerschler followed Carpenter's single with one of his own to put two on with one out for Standifer. Standifer was hit by a pitch for the second time followed by a walk to McKinzie to pull Jewell within 6-5. A sacrifice fly from Andrew Miller tied the game before the big blow of Dane Erbst that scored two runs on a triple to centerfield to give the Cardinals the final margin of 8-6.

McKinzie had a solid opening game with one hit, two runs and three RBI while Miller and Foerschler also posted two hits, and Standifer scored three runs.

Starter Brendan Beatty went five innings giving up six earned runs on nine hits. Zach Hutcherson took the win to move to 2-1 on the year allowing no runs and striking two in one inning of work. Chris Mancha closed out the game to earn his fourth save of the season.

In the night cap, Rockhurst jumped out with three runs in the first inning off starter Garret Smith on three hits and one Cardinal error. The Cards responded with four runs in the top of the second frame after a walk to Jesse Gray and a single from Carpenter put two on for Foerschler who continued his solid day with an RBI single to left field to get Jewell on the board.

Coleman Waheed was then hit by a pitch to put two on with two outs. McKinzie, followed by Miller and Erbst strung together three consecutive singles to push Jewell in front 4-3 and forced RU into a pitching change.

Both pitchers settled into a groove over the next four innings until the Cardinals exploded for five runs in the top sixth inning. Gray and Carpenter started off the frame with back-to-back singles before Foerschler tripled to right center to push the Card's lead to 6-3. Foerschler scored on ground out just before McKinzie sent his second home run over of the day over the left field wall to give the Cards a five run advantage. Miller then walked, stole second, came around to score on a single off the bat of Erbst.

Rockhurst rallied in the bottom of the sixth scoring, two runs on three hits to pull within a 9-5 score before the Cardinal bullpen slammed the door.

Smith went 5.1 innings allowing just two earned runs on five hits while striking out three. The bullpen was also solid as Dylan Christie, Vijay Patel, and Dylan Pollock combined to hold the Hawks scoreless over the final three frames.

Offensively McKinzie and Carpenter each totaled three hits while Erbst had two. Tanner Foerschler also had an outstanding day at the plate totaling two hits, two runs scored, and three RBI in game two after a two hit and two runs game in the opener.

Jewell will take a short break from GLVC play on Tuesday as they play host to MidAmerica Nazarene for a single nine inning game beginning at 2:30 p.m.