Wabash splits its opening baseball games in Arizona Sunday to start its seven-game spring break series in Tucson. The Little Giants rallied to defeat Simpson College 6-5 in the morning before losing 15-2 to NAIA power Briar Cliff in the afternoon at the Kino Sports Complex.
 
Wabash (3-2) trailed the Storm (0-1) by a score of 3-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning. The Little Giants took advantage of two errors and an RBI double from Jackson Blevins to score a pair of runs and cut the score to 3-2.
 
Henry Wannemuehler doubled to open the fifth inning and came home to tie the game on a sacrifice fly by Jared Wolfe. Eric Chavez gave Wabash the lead in the seventh when he and Wannemuehler executed a double steal with Chavez racing home to provide a 4-3 lead for the Little Giants. Wolfe brought Wannemuehler home with a triple off the right field wall to make it 5-3 Wabash before Blevins added another RBI with a single to right to plate Wolfe, giving Wabash the 6-3 lead.
 
Simpson closed the advantage to a run in the eighth when the Storm scored a pair of runs off a single and a bases-loaded walk. Wabash turned a double play to end the eighth, followed by retiring the final three Simpson batters of the game.
 
Ryan Thomas earned his first win of the season in relief of starter Bryan Roberts. Thomas pitched 1-1/3 innings of three-hit baseball, surrendering two unearned runs with two walks and one strikeout. Zach Moffett picked up his first save of the season, pitching 1-2/3 innings without giving up a hit while walking one batter.
 
Blevins and Wannemuehler each finished with two hits. Wolfe picked up a pair of RBI.
 
The Little Giants got off to a good start against Briar Cliff (4-4) in game two, retiring two of the first three batters they faced. The Crusaders exploded for six runs before Wabash could manage the final out of the first inning, then tacked on four more in the second on the way to a 15-2 victory. Wolfe provided one of the few bright spots for Wabash, launching a fastball into the right field bullpen for his first home run of the season as part of two hits in the game. Joe House drove home the second run in the second inning with a single for the only other run for Wabash.
 
Erich Lange took the loss, working 2/3 of an inning. He gave up three hits and only one earned run out of six charged to him. Lange walked three and struck out one. Eric Murphy, Tyler Cooper, Kase Lawson, and Logan Butrum combined to throw 6-1/3 innings of relief. The quartet gave up seven earned runs on 13 hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
 
The Little Giants return to action Monday at 2 p.m. MST to play Wheaton College.