CINCINNATI – The Wilmington College baseball team yielded three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, and the Fightin' Quakers fell to the College of Mount St. Joseph, 3-1, Monday in non-conference action at Marge Schott Stadium.
"Not a bad day," said Wilmington head coach Dan Cleaver. "I told the guys, and I don't mean this, but it's something for them to think about. If we continue to hit the way we hit – we will be 0-34. Our starting pitcher tonight has given up three earned runs in 13 1/3 innings. The guy that followed him pitched well. The pitching is getting better."
WC ran into trouble in the seventh following a leadoff double. The Lions scored on a broken bat single, a safety squeeze and a wild pitch to take the lead.
Senior Brandon Arehart (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) was solely responsible the Fightin' Quakers' offense. He led off the second with a single, stole second and third, and then scored on a wild pitch. Wilmington had multiple chances to tack onto its lead, but went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.
In his first career start, junior Mike Orahood (South Vienna, OH/Northeastern) turned in three quality at-bats – walking twice and recording a hard hit grounder.
Sophomore Clay Cleaver (Pleasant Plain, OH/Little Miami) was the hard luck loser, allowing three runs (two earned) in 6 2/3 innings. He surrendered just five hits with four strikeouts in the outing to fall to 0-2 on the season. Freshman Luke Matthews (Centerville, OH/Centerville), in his first outing of the season, didn't allow a run in 1 1/3 innings.
Wilmington (0-10) returns to the diamond 4 p.m. Tuesday in a non-conference nine-inning game with Thomas More. Freshman Samuel Cranor (Cincinnati, OH/LaSalle) is scheduled to make his first career start against the Saints. He allowed three earned runs in 10 1/3 innings of work in five appearances.