VIDEO - WALK-OFF SINGLE IN GAME TWO
WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College baseball team won both an offensive and a defensive game with Capital University on Friday, taking game one of the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) twinbill 13-8 and winning the nightcap 4-3 in walk-off fashion in the 10th inning.
"Any sweep in the OAC is a good one, but we made some mistakes in both games today," Head Baseball Coach Tony Vittorio said. "We were in control with the bats in the opener."
In game one, the Fightin' Quakers batted around in the bottom of the first inning, plating four runs on six hits that included RBI-singles from Caleb Scott, Moses Garza and Zach Christensen. The 4-0 lead seemed to give Austin Christman, WC's senior starting pitcher who entered game with an ERA over 9.00, to turn in a quality start on the mound. Though Christman would allow four runs over six innings, only two were earned as he struck out six on six hits.
Thanks in part to a two-run fourth and three-run fifth, Wilmington led 10-4 after six complete. The Comets, who scored a run in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth, continued to plate runs. In fact, the visitors would score in the final six innings of the game, but couldn't break through for the big inning. The hosts added three more in the seventh to get the game-one victory.
Christman won his third game of the season while AJ Wolf, Tre Nixon and GlenAllen Anderson finished the final three innings. Kyle Bowles dipped to 1-4 on the season for the Comets, allowing 14 hits and five earned runs in four innings.
Offensively, Wilmington put up 19 hits with five Quakers – Tyler Shaneyfelt, Scott, Noah Martin, Moses Garza and Christensen – having at least three-hit games. Shaneyfelt, at the top of the order, went 4-for-4 with a walk and five runs scored while Scott drove in five runs on a 4-for-5 performance. For Capital, Logan White went 3-for-5 in defeat.
The nightcap featured a very different style of game as there were only a dozen hits combined between the two squads. The Comets took their first lead of the day on a solo home run off the bat of Ryne McKinney in the second inning, but the Quakers tied it in the fourth as Jared Lammert doubled to left and eventually scored on an error. Fielding would prove to be a problem for Capital in game two as another error an inning later scored Christensen, who stole both second and third, to give the hosts a 2-1 lead after five complete.
Capital would string together two hits to tie hit as White doubled to left center in the sixth, but was thrown out trying to advance on the throw. Wilmington would get a runner in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings, but failed to deliver the RBI-hit.
Things got interesting in the ninth as the Comets loaded the bases with one out, and in the process, forcing a WC pitching change as Mac Davis, who gave the hosts two-plus valuable innings of scoreless baseball, gave way to Shaneyfelt on the mound. Capital Head Coach Scott Manahan called a squeeze play, but Josh Sagredo popped up the bunt to Shaneyfelt, who simply ran to third to complete the double play. Wilmington would load the bases in the bottom of the winning, but a groundout ended the threat.
The visitors broke through in the 10th as Brandon Barnette singled home a run after two walks put the go-ahead runner in scoring position. A hit later and the bases were loaded once again, but a Shaneyfelt strikeout and a groundout gave the Quakers a chance to bat trailing by just a single run, 3-2.
In the bottom of the 10th, an error, the Comets' sixth of the game, started a rally that loaded the bases after a walk and a bunt single from Jacob Kalt, who took over at shortstop when Shaneyfelt made the move to the mound. Martin delivered the walk-off hit, a single up the middle on a 3-2 count to give the Quakers the sweep.
"We saw the pitcher's shoulders shrug a little bit after the error," said Vittorio. "We should capitalize on a 3-1 count and put a good swing on it, and Noah did just that."
David Ernst earned a no decision despite pitching a quality start of six innings. The junior allowed just three hits with five strikeouts in four walks. Davis held the game tied through the seventh and eighth innings while Shaneyfelt, despite surrendering the go-ahead run in the 10th, won his first game of the season. Brennon Newell fell to 1-3 on the year for Capital.
"I was proud of our pitching staff overall," Vittorio said. "We needed that today and are going to need it tomorrow."
"What a week Johnny [Tyler Shaneyfelt] is having," Vittorio continued. "He's hitting the ball, scoring runs, and I know it wasn't pretty, he got a win on the mound."
Zach Christensen, who finished the game 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored, tied the OAC record for stolen bases in a game with six (Bob Wolfarth of Marietta College in 1965). He also came one stolen base shy of tying the NCAA Division III record (Doug Graner of Methodist University in 1986).
Wilmington (15-16, 4-8 OAC) heads to Heidelberg University for a twinbill tomorrow before closing out the weekend with a single non-conference game with Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology at home on Sunday.
