WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Wilmington College baseball team split a doubleheader with Olivet College on Monday with the Comets winning game one 14-5 and the Fightin' Quakers taking game two 18-8 in seven innings.
In game one, Caleb Scott gave the hosts a 2-0 lead with a moon shot to center field in the bottom of the first, but Olivet answered with a solo home run in the second and a two-run shot in the fourth that spurred a four-run inning. Trailing 5-2, a sacrifice fly from Moses Garza got WC within two runs, but a five-run top of the fifth inning for the Comets put the game out of reach.
Brendan Redding improved to 2-1 on the season with an eight-inning outing, scattering nine hits and three walks and allowing four earned runs. Austin Christman, Wilmington's starter, dipped to 1-2 allowing nine earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts in 4.2 innings pitched.
The top of the Quakers' lineup did the damage offensively as Tyler Shaneyfelt, Evan Kelsey, Jesse Reliford and Scott all had two hits. Shaneyfelt hit a double and stole a base, Kelsey stole two bases and Jared Lammert hit a triple. James Harris went 5-for-6 with four RBIs and two runs scored for Olivet while Matt Hewitt and Logan Sella tallied three-hit contests.
Game two began just like game one with Wilmington scoring in the bottom of the first. A double steal from Kelsey and Shaneyfelt got things going, and an RBI-groundout from Reliford and an RBI-single from Jared Lammert gave the hosts a 3-0 lead. The Comets got a run back in the third, but the Quakers, just like the Comets did on Sunday, blew the game wide open with two big innings.
The fourth inning saw eight Quakers come to the plate. Six of them reached base via hits including RBI-knocks from Scott, Dominic Depa, Garza and Jacob Feltner. Up 8-2, Starter David Ernst stranded a one-out single in the top of the six, and Wilmington put together another six-hit inning in the bottom of the sixth. This one scored six runs to extend the host's advantage to 14-2.
Olivet's bats did come live four six runs in the top of the seventh, but another four runs from WC including two sacrifice flies and an RBI-single from Shaneyfelt up the middle ended the game.
Ernst won his first collegiate game, allowing four earned runs on nine hits with four strikeouts in 6.2 innings pitched. Tre Nixon recorded the final out for Wilmington. Max Daust dipped to 1-1 on the year for the Comets, allowing 11 hits and seven earned runs in five innings.
Wilmington 20 hits in the victory with seven Quakers tallying multi-hit contests. Scott went 4-for-4 with three doubles and four runs scoring batting cleanup while Lammert went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and six RBIs. Reliford and Shaneyfelt also reached base three times via a hit with the later stealing three bases.
The Quakers (8-6) head to Franklin College on Wednesday (note the day chance). First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.
