WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Wilmington College baseball team brings a three-game winning streak to a Tuesday afternoon, non-conference matchup with Bluffton University. The game, slated to begin at 3 p.m., is the home-opener for the Fightin' Quakers at Tewksbury-Delaney Field.
The Teams: Wilmington and Bluffton. The Quakers enter the game with a 4-2 record after sweeping Mount St. Joseph University in three games at Florence Freedom Stadium over the weekend. The game will be the season-opener for the Beavers, who finished last year's campaign with a 24-20 overall record.
The Coaches: Tony Vittorio, who formerly led the University of Dayton's baseball program for 18 seasons, enters his fourth season as Wilmington's head coach. For the first time in nearly a decade in 2021, the Quakers didn't finish 10th in the OAC, turning in an eighth-place finish with a 10-24 conference mark. James Grandey, a graduate of fellow Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) member Muskingum University, enters his 18th season as Bluffton's head baseball caoch.
The Hitters: A quintnet of Quakers - Evan Kelsey, Dominic Depa, Jesse Reliford, Caleb Scott and Owen Baumann - have at least nine hits on the season and carry batting averages over a .370 clip. Kelsey leads the team with a .458 batting average, 11 hits, five stolen bases and a triple while Depa has two home runs and a team-best 10 RBIs. Bluffton will need to replace 5-of-6 top RBI producers from a season as as Jack Towell drove in 26 runs in 44 games during the 2021 camapign.
The Pitchers: Mac Davis, Luke Chappie and Austin Christman are the three Wilmington pithcers to have ERAs under 6.00 including Davis's perfect ERA in 2.1 innings. Chappie has both a win and a save in a tema-best 10.1 innings and is joined by Aaron Boster in striking out nine batters each. Jacob Boelkens pitched 57.1 innings for the Beavers last year and tallied 52 strikeouts with a 4.08 ERA.
OAC Hitter of the Week: Dominic Depa, thanks in part to a .500 average, two home runs and a grand slam, is this week's OAC Hitter of the Week.
Series History: Wilmington is 3-5 against Bluffton in the last decade. More information on the series history can be viewed by visiting the link above.
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 the game will be available – visit the link above.
Up Next: Wilmington heads to Earlham College for a three-game #QuakerBowlRivalry series this weekend.
