(BEREA, Ky.) – The Wilmington College baseball team jumped out to a 6-0 lead over the Berea College Mountaineers Tuesday night on the road. They never looked back en route to their first win of the season, an 11-6 triumph. Wilmington had a season-high 10 hits in the game, with a trio of Quakers gathering a pair of base hits during the contest.
With neither team getting anything going in the first inning, Wilmington made a statement in the top of the second. It started with a Max Gildea double and was followed by a pair of walks to load the bases with nobody out. JP Donelan singled to bring in a pair of runs and give the Quakers a 2-0 lead. Wilmington loaded the bases again, but a double play gave the Mountaineers two outs and a chance to limit the damage. That wouldn't happen though as Dominic Depa singled in two more runs for a 4-0 lead. Gildea walked to bring in a run, and a wild pitch brought in the final run as Berea struggled to find the strike zone in the inning. They walked six Quakers and hit Evan Kelsey during the frame.
Wilmington scored another run in the top of the fourth to take a 7-1 lead after Berea scored in the bottom of the third. The Quakers had two outs in the inning, but a two-out walk came back to haunt the Mountaineers as Gildea doubled again to bring in Kyle Jennings.
The Quakers wouldn't score again until the seventh frame, where a Carter Scheben triple and a Donelan sacrifice fly plated the run for Wilmington to make it an 8-4 game.
The Quakers put the game out of reach in the top of the eighth, where they scored three runs. Eli Hollingsworth started the inning with a double and Kelsey followed with a single to bring Hollingsworth in for a 9-4 lead. Kelsey stole second and set up a Depa homerun to dead center to extend the lead to 11-4. The Mountaineers scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth, but Wilmington held on a for a comfortable 11-6 victory.
Notables
- Dominic Depa led the Quakers with four RBI in the game, while hitting the fourth homerun of his collegiate career.
- JP Donelan had three RBI and Max Gildea provided two.
- Depa, Donelan, and Gildea all had a pair of hits in the game.
- Evan Kelsey, Carter Scheben, and Depa all scored two runs for Wilmington.
- Jared Lammert walked three times, while Kyle Jennings, and J.C. Calhoun both walked twice.
- Kelsey stole two bases and Lammert swiped one.
- The Quaker struck out 15 Mountaineers. Gildea led the way with seven strikeouts as he allowed five hits and three runs over 3.1 innings in his start on the mound.
- Luke Chappie (1.1 innings, two strikeouts) and Kaleb Stines (2 innings, three strikeouts) both had scoreless, no-hit outings in relief roles.
What's Up Next
Wilmington will look to keep their momentum rolling into their next game Tuesday evening at Mount St. Jospeh University with first pitch slated for 6:00 P.M.
