*Wilmington athletic communications student assistant Roman Kirschner contributed to this preview
WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College baseball travels to Earlham College this Friday for the Quaker-Bowl Rivalry series this weekend. The first game is scheduled to 4:00 p.m. on Friday with two more games following on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., respectively.
The Teams: Wilmington and Earlham. The Fightin' Quakers currently hold a 1-2 record after their 2019 season opening in Carbondale, Illinois, having beaten Blackburn College and having fallen to North Central College as well as the University of Dallas. The Hustlin' Quakers are 0-2 at the moment having been most recently defeated by Wittenberg University 10-4.
The Coaches: The 2019 season marks the new era for Wilmington College baseball team as the head coach Tony Vittorio starts his first season in charge of the program. He most recently served as the head coach at the University of Dayton for 18 seasons. Having rewritten the record books at Earlham College, Steve Sakosits begins his ninth season as the head coach of the Earlham's baseball program.
The Hitters: Gage Bley leads Wilmington offensively as he opened the 2019 season with a .455 batting average including five hits (one double, one triple and one home run) and two RBIs. Aaron Burns and Nick Silvis both hit a .333 clip on opening weekend while Burns drew two walks and Silvis drove in one run. Isaiah Shake has a .429 batting average to lead Earlham offensively while Jackson Mitchell has a team-high three RBIs. Danny Dopp and Austin Hatfield both have doubles for Earlham.
The Pitchers: Lance Fleischman and Jared Ferenchak both pitched over five scoreless innings in the opening weekend. Fleischman earned Wilmington's win striking out seven in 6.2 innings. Bryant McCarty and Matt Oney also pitched scoreless outings in relief. Jordan Christian and Domanick Michael both pitched two scoreless innings for Earlham.
Series History: Wilmington hopes to break the curse as it currently holds negative 0-15 series record in program history against Earlham in the last decade. More information can be found by visiting the link above.
Quaker Bowl Rivalry: Prior to the 2017-18 academic year, the athletics departments of Earlham and Wilmington announced the re-creation of the Quaker Bowl. Originally a trophy for just football and men's basketball contests, the bowl is now competed for across all sports in which Earlham and Wilmington play each other. This year, Wilmington leads the bowl 5-3.
Social Media: Wilmington athletics is represented on Facebook (Wilmington College Athletics), Twitter (@DubCQuakers) and Instagram (@DubCQuakers). Follow all the happenings of Wilmington College on social media by using the hashtag "#WeAreDubC".
Coverage: Live statistics and live video of all three games will be available – visit the link above
Up Next: Wilmington travels to Denison University for a single game on Saturday, March 9.
