FT. MYERS, FL – The Wilmington College baseball team dropped two games Wednesday at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Invitational. The Fightin' Quakers fell to Widener, 11-5, in the first game, and then dropped an 8-4 game to Thiel.

One of the things evident under head coach Dan Cleaver is the willingness to run on the base paths. Through seven games, Wilmington has 14 stolen bases as compared to just 21 all of last season with mostly the same players. Sophomore Clay Cleaver (Pleasant Plain, OH/Little Miami), who led the team with nine swipes last season, had four today – three in the opener.

Widener took advantage of some WC wildness in the first inning, scoring two runs thanks to four walks, two wild pitches and a single. However, Wilmington answered as junior Russ Neeley tied the game with a two-out, two-run single.

The Pride added four runs in the second, and the Fightin' Quakers halved their deficit with two in bottom of the second on RBI singles from Cleaver and freshman Ryan Henning (Milford, OH/Milford). Widener scored runs in four of the last five innings to pull away.

Freshman Austin Merkle (Wilmington, OH/Clinton-Massie) took the loss (0-1) allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits in two innings of relief. The duo of freshman Sam Cranor (Cincinnati, OH/LaSalle) and junior Tommy Chamberlain (Edgewood, OH/Trenton) pitched well in relief, combining to allow one earned run in 4 2/3 innings.

Cleaver contributed with his bat and arm in the opener. Not only was the centerfielder 2-for-4 with a run scored and RBI, he kept a run off the board by cutting down a Widener runner trying to score from second on a single.

Thiel used two big innings, a three-run second and a four-run fifth, to picked up the win in WC's second game of the day.

Sophomore Luke Matthews (Centerville, OH/Centerville) took the loss (0-1) in his first career start. He allowed five runs on eight hits in four innings of work. Sophomore Billy Foster (Xenia, OH/Xenia) allowed three earned runs on five hits in three innings of relief, while sophomore McKale Stakely (Pataskala, OH/Licking Heights) threw two innings of scoreless relief.

Henning brought home the Fightin' Quakers' first run of the day on a bases loaded fielder's choice in the fourth.

Sophomore Alec Hutzelman (Centerville, OH/Centerville) recorded an RBI single in the seventh, and WC pulled closer as two more runs scored on an error on a fly ball off the bat of junior Roenick Whitney (Goshen, OH/Goshen).

Wilmington (0-7) wraps up its spring break trip in Ft. Myers 10 a.m. Thursday with a nine-inning game with Baruch.