RICHMOND, Indiana - The Wilmington College baseball team split a doubleheader with rival Earlham College on Saturday, winning a wild game one 9-8 in 11 innings and falling 19-9 in game two.
In the game one victory, Aaron Burns got the offense started with a two-run home run in the second inning. An Owen Baumann double that scored Jacob Kalt followed as the Fightin' Quakers took a 3-0 lead. The Hustlin' Quakers got a run back in the bottom half of the inning, but a Caleb Scott groundout that scored Evan Kelsey got the run back in the top of the third.
A Dominic Depa solo home run in the top of the sixth put the visitors up 5-1, but the hosts put together a two-out rally in the bottom half of the inning. Aaron Boster, who had pitched around six walks with the help of seven strikeouts, was relieved by Luke Chappie with a runner on first in a 5-2 game. Earlham would add one more run on a single up the middle, but WC held 5-3 after six complete. The hosts weren't done tagging Chappie, however, as two 2-RBI doubles in the seventh put Earlham up 7-5. Another double led off the eighth, and although AJ Wolf stranded two runners in scoring position to end the inning, the lead-off double came around to score.
Trailing 8-5, it was Wilmington's turn to rally. After two quick outs to begin the ninth, Tyler Shaneyfelt, Kelsey and Jesse Reliford set the table for Scott, who drew a walk with the bases loaded. Jared Lammert then drove one into deep left center field that looked to clear the bases, but unfortunately for WC, the ball bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, leaving the potential go-ahead run on third base.
Reliford came in to pitch in the ninth and shut the door on Earlham in both the ninth and 10th innings. Shaneyfelt led off the 11th with a bunt single, and after a sacrifice, Moses Garza delivered what proved to be the game-winning run with a single down the right field line. Reliford competed the three-inning victory with a groundout and two flyouts. Renner took the loss for Earlham, allowing the run in the ninth inning.
Depa finished 3-for-5 with a home run for Earlham while Kelsey, Lammert and Baumann each had two hits. Christian Lancianse, the lead-off hitter for Earlham, went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Perhaps most importantly, Wilmington's defense held Earlham which converted 19-of-20 stolen bases, to just 3-of-5 in the game.
Earlham's offense, which took a while to get going in game one, caught fire early in game two. The hosts scored at least a run in each of the first seven innings including a five-run fifth and seven-run sixth. Wilmington plated multiple runs in each of the last four innings, but couldn't overcome the double-digit deficit.
Austin Christman took the loss, allowing six earned runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings of work. Aiden Talarek, EC's started, delivered a quality start with six innings and no earned runs allowed.
Kelsey was the lone Wilmington Quaker to tally a multi-hit game in the nightcap, going 3-for-6 with four RBIs. A multitude of Earlham Quakers had multi-hit games including Lancianse, who hit two home runs.
Wilmington (6-3), will wrap up its series with Earlham tomorrow (Sunday) with a single game. First pitch is slated for noon.
