The Wilmington College baseball team received two excellent pitching performances from some youthful arms as the Fightin' Quakers split an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader with Ohio Northern Tuesday at Tewksbury-Delaney Field.
Wilmington trailed for just four outs in the first game, and never trailed in the second.
GAME ONE: OHIO NORTHERN 5, WILMINGTON 2 (8 innings)
A two-out error in the top of the 10th inning kept the ONU inning alive, and the Polar Bears scored three unearned runs for the 5-2 victory.
The loss erased a great outing by sophomore Joey Hollback (Salem, OH/Sebring McKinney), who allowed just one earned run on four hits over seven innings of work. Coming into the game, the southpaw only hurled 7 1/3 innings on the season. It was the longest outing of his career.
Sophomore Jarett Trautman, 0-2, (Hartville, OH/Field) took the loss, allowing an unearned run on three hits in an inning of work. He came on with one on and one out, and WC holding a one-run lead, in the top of the ninth. ONU sandwiched a pair of single around a flyout to load the bases, and raced the tying run home on a wild pitch.
Wilmington took the early lead as sophomore Gage Bley (Harrison, OH/Harrison) brought home sophomore Jake Hyatt, who doubled to open the second. WC had a chance to tack on to the lead as it had runners on second and third, but Bley was out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch. It was an unlucky bounce as the pitch hit the brick façade behind home plate and bounced right back to the catcher.
The Fightin' Quakers added to their lead on a two-out double by junior Joshua Chua (Lancaster, England/Claremont [CA]).
Sophomore Lane Stevenson (Brookville, IN/Brookville) had a career-high three hits with a double, a run scored and an RBI. It was the second time in his career he recorded multiple hits in a game. Hyatt finished with a pair of doubles in four at-bats, while junior Jake Robinson (Westerville, OH/South) was 2-for-4.
GAME TWO: WILMINGTON 3, OHIO NORTHERN 2
Freshman Lance Fleischman (Milford, OH/Milford) threw a career-high six innings of relief, allowing two runs to help the Fightin' Quakers earn the split with the 3-2 victory.
Fleischman entered the game after starter Jacob Helterbrand (Hillboro, OH/Hillsboro) hit his third batter of the game to start the fourth inning. Helterbrand only allowed one hit in his three-inning start, but he walked two and hit three batters.
Sophomore Jake Hyatt (Madeira, OH/Madeira) opened the scoring with a one-out single in the bottom of the first inning, scoring Bley – who singled. He added an RBI single in the third to push the WC lead to 2-0, and then he scored on a single by junior Kyle Short (Trenton, OH/Edgewood).
Ohio Northern got a pair of runs in the sixth inning to pull to within a run.
Freshman Nick Silvis (Beavercreek, OH/Indian Lake) finished the game 3-for-4, while Hyatt was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Bley added a 2-for-4 performance with a run scored.
WHAT'S NEXT
Wilmington return stays home for a non-conference doubleheader 1 p.m. Wednesday, hosting Wright St. – Lake.
