CARBONDALE, Illinois – The University of Dallas scored three runs in both of the first two innings en route to an 8-5 victory over the Wilmington College baseball team on Sunday.
The Fightin' Quakers finish their opening weekend with a 1-2 record having defeated Blackburn College and fallen to North Central College yesterday.
The Crusaders jumped on Wilmington starter Michael Weisenberger with three hits and three walks drawn including two with the bases loaded. Jacob Griewahn came into the game to get the last out of the first inning, but surrendered three runs on four hits along with two errors in the bottom of the second.
Wilmington could have packed it in trailing 6-0, but did not as a Gage Bley home run to left field in the top of the third cut the deficit to four. Griewahn got Wilmington through the third unscathed, but Dallas got back those two runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth.
Trailing 8-2, the Quakers mounted an offensive in the top of the sixth as a Jake Hyatt double drive in an inning-opening walk from Aaron Burns. An RBI-single from Nick Silvis that followed made the score 8-4. After an out, a Gavin Perkins single put multiple runners on base, but consecutive groundouts to the shortstop ended the threat.
Wilmington would add another run in the eighth as Dylan Wenger drove home Silvis, who led off the inning with a triple, with an RBI-groundout. A Perkins double, a wild pitch and an Antonio Miller walk got the Quakers runners at the corners with one out. A lineout to the first basemen induced a double play ended the inning.
Tyler Montemayor closed the door for the Crusaders in the ninth inning, earning his second save of the season.
Weisenberger took the loss allowing three runs on two hits with three walks in two-thirds of an inning pitched. Jamie Wallace earned the win for Dallas in relief.
A bright spot for the Quaker pitching staff was Jared Ferenchak who scattered four hits with three strikeouts over the final four innings. The senior did now allow a run during that stretch.
Offensively, Bley finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs including that home run. Perkins added a 2-for-3 performance while Silvis finished with two hits including a triple with an RBI.
Wilmington (1-2) travels to Earlham College for a four-game series in the Quaker Bowl Rivalry next weekend.
