After cruising past Baldwin-Wallace College (15-13) last Friday 12-3, the baseball team split its doubleheader with Case Western Reserve University (26-12) last Sunday amid blistering conditions at Art Murray Field.
Wooster (18-11, 9-3 NCAC) made its presence immediately known when it traveled to face non-conference opponent Baldwin-Wallace College last Friday in Berea, Ohio.
After a scoreless first inning, consecutive doubles from Craig Day ’14 and Billy Farrow ’14 ignited the Scots’ offense and pushed the team ahead to a 4-1 lead through two innings.
In the second inning a Wooster offensive explosion forced Baldwin-Wallace to change pitchers after only the second inning, but the Yellow Jackets’ efforts quickly proved to be ineffective.
Wooster put its first three batters on base in the third, forcing yet another pitching change, before eventually closing out the inning with a 7-1 lead.
After Baldwin-Wallace scored again in the seventh inning, Greg Van Horn ’11 blasted a two-run triple that fueled a four run eighth inning for the Scots and brought the game to the 12-3 final score.
Wooster dominated the Yellow Jackets in every facet of the game, including hits (16-5), runs (12-3) and RBI (9-2). With the victory, pitcher Keenan White ’13 picked up his second win of the season only giving up one run on just three hits.
With winds gusting up to 44 m.p.h., the Scots returned home last Sunday to battle non-conference rival Case Western Reserve, winning the first game 15-14 before falling in the second 14-2.
The blustery winds were both a blessing and curse for Wooster. Down 3-4 at the bottom of the fourth, the Scots brought in five straight runs, highlighted by a grand slam that Zach Mathie ’14 cracked straight towards Wooster’s prized L.C. Boles driving range, putting the Scots up 8-4.
At the top of the fifth inning, Case Western’s Sam Alexander hit a single-run homer to cut the deficit to 8-5. A Spartan error at the bottom of the inning led to four runs for the Scots, increasing their lead to 12-5. The teams exchanged two runs apiece in the sixth inning, with Michael Wellstead ’13 batting in two runners.
Up 14-7 after the seventh inning, however, the winds turned against the Scots. With the help of three Wooster errors, the Spartans converted a seven run eighth inning, six of which were unearned, to tie the game at 14-14.
The Scots quickly continued its steady batting in the bottom of the eighth. With one out and runners on first and second, Mathie hit an RBI single that put Wooster ahead for good. Mathie finished the first game with an incredible 3-4, 7 RBI showing. Matt Barnes ’11 struck out two in the ninth inning to gain his third career save and helped Wooster persevere for the exciting 15-14 win.
Barnes stayed on the mound to start the second game and struck out seven batters before the Spartans exploded for six runs in the fifth inning charging to a 7-1 lead. Case Western never looked back as it cruised to a 14-2 victory and escaped Art Murray Field with the doubleheader split.
The Scots faced non-conference opponent Muskingum University (11-16) after press time on Thursday. Wooster battles rival Denison University (15-17, 7-5 NCAC) today in a conference doubleheader at Art Murray Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.