WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College baseball team erased a three-run deficit to defeat Franklin College 7-4 in the Quakers' home-opener at Tewksbury-Delaney Field on Wednesday afternoon.
Tyler Shaneyfelt got things started in the bottom of the first inning as a lead-off walk would go around to score. Shaneyfelt, the program's leader in career steals, stole second and scored on an RBI-groundout from Jared Lammert. The Grizzlies would trail for long, however, as Franklin chased WC starter David Ernst after just four outs. A flyout began the second, but the next five Grizzlies reached base - three via singles and two via walks - that forced Wilmington Head Coach Tony Vittorio to make a change on the mound. Enter Kaleb Stines, who took a couple batters to get settled in. Franklin would plate four runs on three hits with two walks and two wild pitches.
After that, Stines kept the Grizzly offense at bay. Franklin would be held to just two hits the rest of the contest, and it was up to the WC offense to makeup the three-run deficit. Evan Kelsey got things started in the bottom of the fourth as the junior singled up the middle to plate two runs with two outs. A scoreless fifth inning from both teams followed, but the Quakers kept at it in the sixth. Evan Eilerman doubled to right center with one out, and advanced to third on a fielding error. Franklin elected to play its infield in, and a single up the middle from Shaneyfelt tied the game. Shaneyfelt again stole a base, and after advancing to third on a wild pitch, the junior scored on a failed pickoff attempt.
Now up 5-4 and one inning later, Kyle Jennings launched the team's first home run of the season over the left field fence, giving the Quakers two insurance runs. They wouldn't need them, however, as Jesse Reliford shut the door in the ninth for his third straight save.
Stines earned the win, pitching 6.2 innings of scoreless baseball while scattering just two hits and two walks with five strikeouts. Will Butts picked up the loss for Franklin by allowing two runs on three hits with two walks in 1.1 innings.
Offensively, Shaneyfelt finished 2-for-3 with an RBI, a walk, three runs scored and three stolen bases. Dominic Depa (2-for-3) and Eilerman (3-for-4) also also multi-hit contests for WC. AJ Sanders and Dyllan Redmon both had two hits for Franklin (4-3).
Wilmington (3-6) will take a three-game winning streak to the three-game series with rival Earlham College this weekend.
