BEREA – The Wilmington College baseball team snapped its losing streak, splitting an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader with Baldwin Wallace. The Fightin' Quakers dropped the first game 13-1, and claimed the nightcap, 6-5.
BALDWIN WALLACE 13, WILMINGTON 1
The Yellow Jackets seized control with a seven-run fifth, turning a 2-1 lead into a 9-1 advantage en route to the 13-1 victory.
Baldwin Wallace took the early lead with an unearned run in the first, and Wilmington was able to answer with an unearned run in the fourth. Freshman Antonio Miller (Cincinnati, OH/Northwest) opened the inning with a single, and came around to score on a Jake Hyatt (Madeira, OH/Madeira) single combined with an error.
Wilmington allowed a single run in the sixth, two more in the seventh and a final run in the eighth.
Sophomore Daniel Hayes (Beavercreek, OH/Beavercreek) finished with two of Wilmington's seven hits, going 2-for-3.
Senior Billy Foster, 0-4, (Xenia, OH/Xenia) took the loss, allowing four runs – three earned – on seven hits in four innings of work. He added two strikeouts and two walks.
WILMINGTON 6, BALDWIN WALLACE 5
Three relievers combined to allow one unearned run over the final four innings as the Fightin' Quakers held on for the 6-5 victory.
Senior Corey Walker (Hillsboro, OH/Hillsboro) threw the final two scoreless frames to pick up his first save of the season. Sophomore Tyler McDaniel (Trenton, OH/Edgewood) added a scoreless seventh in the victory.
Freshman Jared Ferenchak (Concord, OH/Notre Dame Cathedral Latin) earned his first career victory in four decisions, yielding four runs – one earned – on seven hits. He had one strikeout with three walks.
Wilmington took advantage of four BW errors to score five runs in the second and third innings.
Walker brought home the game's first run with a one-out single, scoring Hyatt. After he advanced to second on a ground out, Walker stole third and scored on a throwing error.
A two-out error in the third inning enabled two more Wilmington runs to cross the plate, and then senior Luke Matthews (Centerville, OH/Centerville) added another run with a two-out single.
BW scored three in the third and another in the fourth to pull to within two.
Matthews added the eventual game-winning run with an RBI groundout, scoring Walker.
In addition to his scoreless innings on the mound, Walker was 3-for-4 with two runs scored, an RBI and stolen base.
Freshman Gage Bley (Harrison, OH/Harrison) was 2-for-5 with a run scored, while Hyatt was 2-for-5 with two runs scored.
Wilmington (4-27 overall, 1-9 OAC) hosts Otterbein in an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader 1 p.m. Tuesday at Tewksbury-Delaney Field.
