Langston Hood
Staff Writer
The Wooster baseball team had an eventful weekend as they split a double-header with Allegheny before carrying over their offensive success with an explosion of runs against Heidelberg University. The Fighting Scots went Gator hunting in the first game of the weekend, as they laid waste to the Allegheny team in a 15-1 victory. The bats of the Scots were red-hot and everything thrown towards the plate was being hit. The first victim of the Scots was Allegheny’s starting pitcher Conor Deasy ’23, who had an incredibly respectable 2.40 ERA coming into the game. Wooster was keen on worsening this statistic, as they had Deasy’s number when the second inning rolled around.
Baseballs turned to volleyballs as the Wooster lineup batted around in the bottom of the second, tallying seven runs on six hits and leaving just one runner on base. Sophomore Eli Westrick ’24 got the action started with a double before first-year Nick Pett ’25 stepped up to drive him home on a full count home run. The hits wouldn’t stop coming as the homer was followed by a Dom Stilliana ’22 single, a Michael Thomas ’22 double and a Ben Gbur ’22 walk. With the bases loaded, Ben Hines ’22 singled to bring a run in with some aggressive first-pitch swinging. Following Hines’ RBI, Tyler Chumita ’22, the NCAC’s leader in RBIs, found himself in position to break the game wide open. And he did, sending a ball into the atmosphere for a grand slam to put the Scots up by seven in the early stages of the game.
The initial bleeding would stop after Chumita’s four-run knock, but Wooster picked right back up where they left off in the bottom of the third when Thomas homered to score two runs, which ended Deasy’s day on the mound. Mitchell Reardon ’22 would surrender Allegheny’s first and only run of the day on a solo shot in the top of the fourth. In the bottom half, Thomas would register two more RBI’s on a two-out double. The bottom of the fifth inning would host another fireworks show as Dane Camphausen ’22 hit a grand salami of his own to bring in four more runs and end the Scots’ scoring at 15 runs, as Reardon went on to finish the game allowing just four hits, eight strikeouts and a home run.
Game one of the double header ended early as Wooster mercy-ruled the Allegheny Gators before the nightcap began. Wooster’s bats went cold for the two innings as a Pett triple served as the only hit through the first two frames of the game. Wooster would wait until the third inning for a Chumita single to knot up the game at one run apiece. The Gators went on a hot run starting in the sixth inning and carrying through the end of the game as they got a hold of the Wooster pitchers routinely. They scored nine runs over the last four innings to take the second game of the doubleheader to win the game 11-5. Wooster wasn’t up to the task in the nightcap, but they would save some firepower for their Sunday matchup with Heidelberg.
Wooster’s Sunday game at Heidelberg got off to a fast start as they scored three runs in the top of the first inning thanks to a Hines homer which also brought Gbur home to give the Scots an early 2-0 lead. Westrick rebounded from his tough day on the bump with a little help from Heidelberg, as they mishandled a bunt and Chumita scored to give the Scots their third run of the inning.
Heidelberg would pose a challenge early on as a solo shot brought the game to 3-1 in the bottom of the first inning; however, Wooster would respond emphatically over the next two innings. Hines registered his third RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly in the top of the second, which brought Alex Gasper ’22 home. The Scots caught fire in the next inning as Gasper recorded an RBI, while Hines and Gbur registered two apiece to put the Scots up 9-1 in the third inning.
Wooster’s repeat offenders supplied the run support over the next seven innings, as Chumita brought home three runs and Westrick added another to give the Scots a 14-6 advantage heading into the eighth inning. But they weren’t done just yet. Gbur knocked an inside the park grand slam to score four runs and put the minimal hope of the Student Princes (terrible mascot) to bed. The “Princes” got a charity run in the bottom of the eighth and the rest of the game was scoreless as the Fighting Scots won 18-7.
Nick Pett, one of the weekend’s premier performers had the following to say about the rest of the season: “the whole team played great this weekend and we’re excited to compete for a spot in the conference tournament coming up.” The Scots have an important couple of games coming up as they will see double-headers with the top two teams in the conference and Kenyon, who is tied with them at 8-4.
The Scots will travel to Denison on Saturday, April 30 for a double header against the league leaders in a pivotal two game stretch.
