WILMINGTON, Ohio – The University of Mount Union took two Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) games from the Wilmington College baseball team, winning game one 5-3 in 11 innings and taking the nightcap 11-4 on Friday afternoon.
In game one, the Fightin' Quakers used some timely hitting to score a pair of runs early. In the bottom of the first, Caleb Scott doubled to left field scoring Jared Lammert while Zach Christensen singled home Dominic Depa in the second. Both hits game with two outs, and the hosts led 2-0 after two complete.
WC start Aaron Boster retired the first 11 Purple Raiders and would only allow two base runners through seven innings. The Quakers would add another run in the fifth on an infield single from Evan Kelsey that scored Christensen.
The Purple Raiders got to Boster in the eighth as a sacrifice fly and a two-out, RBI-single off the bat of Chase Angotti pulled the visitors within a run. Following the hit, Angotti attempted to steal second, but was gunned down by Aaron Burns.
Leading 3-2, the Quakers got two runners on in the bottom of the eighth with one out, but failed to get a run back. In the top of the ninth, Boster was one out away from earning a complete-game win in 90 minutes, but Eric Schilling, the Mount Union cleanup hitter, doubled home the game-tying run with a deep drive to center field.
Boster would depart after a walk in the 10th, and Mount Union would plate two in the 11th on a single and two doubles. Trailing for the first time in the game chasing two runs, Wilmington loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 11th, but a foul-out, strikeout and flyout to center field ended the game.
Both starting pitchers pitched quality starts and received no-decisions as Boster went nine-plus innings, scattering five hits with seven strikeouts and three earned runs for Wilmington while Thomas Gallant pitched 8.1 innings allowing nine hits and three earned runs with three strikeouts. Ryan Osman improved to 2-2 for Mount Union, allowing two hits in 2.2 innings while Luke Chappie lost his second game of the season, allowing two earned runs on three hits in two innings.
Offensively, Lammert, Depa and Christensen had two hits each with Aaron Burns and Scott joining Christensen in hitting doubles. Angotti was the long Purple Raider to tally two hits as WC outhit Mount Union 11-8 in the game.
In the nightcap, Mount Union took a 1-0 lead on a Schilling RBI-single to left field, but Caleb Scott turned a one-run deficit into a one-run lead with a no-doubt home run to left field in the bottom half of the inning.
Walker Marlowe tied the game with a home run of his own in the top of the second that coincidentally landed in about the same spot as Scott's two-run blast. Errors continued to plague the Quakers as two more unearned runs crossed the plate in the frame. Wilmington, which committed five errors in the first three innings, only found themselves down 4-3.
Mount Union's offense got to WC starter Tyler Shaneyfelt in the first and reliever GlenAllen Anderson in the fourth, plating three runs in each inning to build a 10-3 advantage. Wilmington would plate a single run in the seventh on an RBI-double from Evan Kelsey that scored Shaneyfelt, but that would prove to be the last Quaker run to cross the plate.
Dwayne Sumler won his third game of the year for Mount Union, pitching a quality start of six innings with three earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts. Chuck Hawley and Cole Robinson combined to pitch the final three innings. For Wilmington, Shaneyfelt allowed two earned runs (seven total) in 3.2 innings to take the loss. Kaleb Stines pitched 3.2 innings in relief with one earned run allowed while Nathan Oliger, in his first collegiate appearance, didn't allow a hit with one walk in the ninth inning.
Shaneyfelt and Scott both had two hits for WC with Scott's home run in the first. The middle of the Mount Union order - Schilling, Marlowe and Jaired Lehman - all had three-hit games in game two.
Wilmington (11-13, 1-7 OAC) will host Capital University on Monday. First pitch from Tewksbury-Delaney Field is scheduled for 1 p.m.
