ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Wilmington College baseball team was clipped by the University of Mount Union in two close Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) games on Monday as the Purple Raiders edged the Fightin' Quakers 1-0 and 10-8.
Game one was a pitcher's duel between Joey Hollback and Phil Mary. Both pitchers allowed six hits with one walk. Hollback finished with two strikeouts in eight innings pitched while Mary had 11 strikeouts in his compete-game victory.
The only run scored for either team was an RBI-single from Ray Belchick in the bottom of the second inning. Wilmington left eight runners on base including getting the first three on base in the top of the third inning. Unfortunately for the Quakers, a popup and double play got Mary out of the bases loaded jam. The visitors brought five men to the plate with runners in scoring position over the final six inning, but could not drive in the game-tying run.
Joshua Chua was the lone Quaker to finish with multiple hits going 2-for-4 in the game. Travis Wood led the Purple Raiders with a 2-for-3 performance.
After a sluggish offensive performance from both teams in game one, game two featured a combined 18 runs scored. The Purple Raiders scored in all but two innings and did not trail the entire game. Wilmington tied it 2-2 with a two-run home run from Gage Bley in the top of the third, but Mount Union immediately answered with runs in the bottom of the inning.
A fielding error in the seventh would plate two runs for Wilmington, getting the visitors within a single run (7-6), but once again the Raiders answered immediately. The Quakers would enter the ninth trailing 10-6, but a double from Chua and a single from Jake Hyatt cut the deficit in half. Luke Kleindl, representing the tying run, lined out to shortstop to end the game.
Jared Ferenchak dipped to 2-5 on the season with the loss allowing five earned runs in 13 hits in five innings pitched. The Wilmington bullpen of Bryant McCarty, Alec Robinette and Lance Fleischman allowed four hits and three runs over the final three innings.
Noah Skladan got the win for Mount Union allowing four earned runs in six innings pitched.
Four Quakers – Chua, Kleindl, Nick Silvis and Daniel Hayes – recorded multi-hit games. Ryan Boyd stole the show for the Purple Raiders going 4-for-5 with six RBIs.
Wilmington (9-23, 1-13 OAC) hosts Wittenberg University in a non-conference game on Wednesday.
