CARBONDALE, Illinois - The Wilmington College baseball team got its 2022 season off to a good start on Saturday as the Fightin' Quakers held off a ninth-inning rally from Blackburn College to defeat the Beavers 10-9 in the season-opener for both teams.
The Fightin' Quakers did not waste time getting things going as a Jesse Reliford double to left center scored Owen Baumann, who led off the game with a single, in the top of the first. It took Wilmington just one batter to triple its lead as Caleb Scott took one for a ride over the center field fence, plating himself and Reliford for a 3-0 lead.
In what would prove to be the theme of the game, Blackburn trimmed the lead with a two-hit, two-run inning in the bottom of the third, but Wilmington got both back immediately Jacob Kalt singled home Jared Lammert and Reliford drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of the fourth. After a scoreless bottom half, the Quakers put runners in motion in the fifth and scored a run on a Beaver throwing error.
Trailing 6-2, Blackburn continued to chip away with two runs on two hits in the fifth and two runs on three hits in the sixth to tie the game 6-6 after six complete.
Aaron Burns led off the top of the seventh with a solo home run and Dominic Depa added with a two-RBI double to left field scoring Lammert and Joel O'Brien. The Beavers got two of those runs back in the bottom of the eighth to get within a run, but once again, the Quakers offense padded the cushion as Evan Kelsey doubled home Lammert in the top of the ninth.
Blackburn didn't go away, however, as a leadoff double was followed by a single and a fielder's choice. Within a single run and the tying run on base, Reliford struck out Trevor Platt and induced a game-ending groundout to shortstop for the victory.
Luke Chappie started the game for the Quakers and was relieved in the fifth inning by Kaleb Stines, who went on to earn the win allow four earned runs on six hits in 3.1 innings pitched. Reliford pitched the four-out save. Blackburn used six total pitchers with Zach Knox starting the first four innings and five other Beavers pitching exactly one inning. Kyle Sanders took the loss, allowing three earned runs on two hits.
Reliford and Lammert tallied multi-hit contests for WC while Scott and Burns hit the long balls. Kelsey swiped two bases. For Blackburn, the middle of the order did the damage as Jaidon Erivez had a 3-for-5 afternoon with four RBIs while Tyler Jackson had three hits and three RBIs.
Wilmington (1-0) closes out the weekend with games against DePauw University (Indiana) and North Central College (Illinois) tomorrow (Sunday) at 10 a.m. (CST) and 1 p.m. (CST) respectively.
