WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Wilmington College baseball team won its first Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) contest of the season on Saturday, splitting a doubleheader with Heidelberg University at Tewksbury-Delaney Field on Friday. The Quakers won game one 11-5 and the Student Princes took game two 11-7.
Offense was plentiful early for both teams. Five of the first six Student Princes reached base via hits, but WC starter Aaron Boster limited to damage to just three runs by striking out the side with the bases loaded. The Quakers mirrored that start for the first three batters in the bottom of the first. After a strikeout with the bases loaded, Jesse Reliford singled to right center scoring Tyler Shaneyfelt. A Student Prince error followed, plating both Owen Baumann and Jared Lammert to tie the game.
Boster began to settle in, and thanks to a double play from his defense, faced the minimum in the second. For the second consecutive inning, the WC offense loaded the bases. Baumann, the third batter of the inning, bunted in an attempt to move runners over, but beat out the throw for a single. That throw hit Baumann in the back, allowing both Shaneyfelt and Evan Eilerman to score. WC would go on to plate two run runs and take a 7-3 lead into the third.
Caleb Scott, who tallied a seven-RBI performance in the Quakers' 16-4 win at Miami University-Hamilton the day earlier, drove home Baumann in the fourth to make it 8-3. Boster ran into trouble in the fifth and was pulled after walking his third batter of the inning, marking the first since Opening Day the junior hadn't pitched at least six innings. With the bases loaded leading 8-5, Zach Shepherd stuck out Zane Mirgin to preserve the lead.
Wilmington got those two runs back in the bottom of the sixth as Baumann singled and Lammert doubled to open the inning. Scott then hit his second RBI-single of the game, and Jesse Reliford grounded into a double play that scored another run. The hosts would add an insurance run in the seventh as Carter Scheben double home Evan Kelsey, and Shepherd retired six of the last seven batters to secure his first collegiate victory.
Shepherd allowed just a single hit with and struck out six over the final 4.1 innings to improve to 1-0 on the season. Heidelberg used three pitchers in game one, all of which surrendered at least a run. Corbin Caplan took the loss as he allowed six earned runs on seven hits with three walks while recoding just five outs.
Wilmington pounded out 17 hits in the game and stole four bases. Baumann finished 3-for-4 with a walk and four runs scored while Lammert also had a three-hit game one while Shaneyfelt, Calhoun, Scott and Scheben also had multi-hit contests. For Heidelberg, Kyle Krummen and Andrew Pokley both had two hits and drove in two runs.
In the nightcap, Heidelberg jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings. The Student Princes scored two in the first on a home run form Andrew Cook, and though they struck out twice on seven pitches to open the second, the visitors chased WC starter Trent Mendenhall after five consecutive hits plated four runs in the second.
Lammert opened the scoring for WC in the bottom of the third with an RBI-single scoring Shaneyfelt, and after an error loaded the bases, Reliford drew a bases-loaded walk to plate another run. Unfortunately for the hosts, a double play ended the inning. A 1-2-3 top of the fourth from Mac Davis followed, and the Quakers manufactured a run without a hit in the bottom half of the inning as Kelsey walked, advanced to second on a passed ball, tagged up to third on a flyout and scored on a wild pitch.
Trailing 6-3, Wilmington got the tying run into scoring position in the sixth as Shaneyfelt doubled down the right field line to score a run, but a groundout ended the inning. Heidelberg got the run back on a solo home run from Garrett LeBeau in the seventh and plated four runs on three hits in the eighth to build an 11-5 advantage.
The Quakers made things interesting in the ninth by scoring two runs, but came one baserunner away from sending the tying run to the plate as three fielder's choice outs ended the game.
Jackson Powers won his fourth game of the season for Heidelberg with a quality start of six innings and two earned runs allowed. Zane Mirgon and Corey Brafford finished the final three innings Heidelberg. Mendenhall dipped to 2-4 for WC, which used seven total pitchers in the game. Davis, Austin Christman, AJ Wolf and Eli Martin all pitched at least one scoreless inning in relief.
Cook led Heidelberg with a 4-for-6 performance wiht three RBI, three runs scored and a home run. Shaneyfelt went 3-for-5 for WC with an RBI, two runs scored and two stolen bases.
Wilmington (10-14, 1-5 OAC) heads to Ohio Northern University on Tuesday.
