BEREA, OHIO — The Baldwin-Wallace College baseball team split a rescheduled Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader against rival Mount Union College today (Wednesday, April 16, 2008) at the 23rd Street Field in Alliance. Mt. Union won the first game, 13-7, and B-W won the nightcap, 25-17 in eight innings.
With its split, the Yellow Jackets are now 15-11-1 overall and 7-5 in the OAC. With its split, Mt. Union is now 17-10 overall and 8-4 in the OAC.
In the first game, B-W took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning but the Purple Raiders countered with seven runs of their own in the bottom of the frame. B-W closed the gap to 7-6 with a pair of runs in the third, but again Mt. Union retaliated with five of its own for a commanding 12-6 advantage. Another Mt. Union run in the fourth countered B-W’s final tally in the top of the seventh.
At the plate, junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC centerfielder Cody Kidd (Wellington) led the way with three base hits and scored a pair of runs. In addition, senior leftfielder Shaun Slater (Wooster/ Norwayne), senior shortstop Nick Radca (Amherst/ Marion Steele) and freshman designated hitter Chris Nealon (Avon Lake) each had a pair of base hits.
On the mound, junior Jim Jaskowak (Grove City, Pa./ Grove City), this week’s OAC Pitcher of the Week, started and took the loss, his first of the season, to fall to 4-1 overall. Jaskowak pitched the first two innings and was followed to the mound by sophomore Cory Hanawalt (xxxxx) who threw the final four frames.
In the second game, B-W again began with a four-run first to take a 4-0 lead only to have Mt. Union score four of its own for a 4-4 tie. Mt. Union added four more runs in the second inning to take an 8-4 lead. B-W then took the lead for good with a nine-run third inning for a 13-8 lead. After Mt. Union closed to within 13-9 in the bottom of the third, B-W scored three times in the fifth and increased its lead to 16-9. Undaunted. the Raiders scored three of their own in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 16-12. A four-run sixth and another run in the seventh increased B-W’s bulge to 21-12. Again, Mt. Union answered with three in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 21-15. B-W concluded its scoring with four runs in the top of the eighth for a 25-15 lead. Then, after Mt. Union scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to close within 25-17, darkness decended upon the 23rd Street Field to bring an end to the donneybrook.
At the plate, B-W pounded out 27 hits with senior Kevin Shenker (Twinsburg) leading the way by going six-of-six with five runs scored and six runs batted-in. Slater was five-of-six with two doubles, a homerun, four runs scored and five RBI. In addition, Radca, junior All-OAC firstbaseman Riley Kreisher (Ashtabula/ Edgewood) and senior second baseman Nate Luken (Dayton/ Chaminade Julienne) each had three hits and Kidd, sophomore rightfielder Ben Stoper (Medina/ Senior) and junior third baseman Jake Gross (West Farmington/ Warren Champion) each had a pair of hits.
On the mound, sophomore Brandon Fredericks (Copley/ Richfield Revere) started and earned the win to improve to 3-2 overall. He was followed to the mound by freshman Nick Flanigan (Wadsworth) who earned a save.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Thursday, April 17 when they travel to North Canton to play Malone College at 1:00 p.m. (a Junior Varsity game will follow the varsity contest). B-W also hosts Heidelberg College in an OAC doubleheader on Saturday, April 19 at Heritage Field in Berea at 1:00 p.m.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact B-W Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX machine at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Head Coach Bob Fisher, please call him at 440-826-2182 or e-mail him at rfisher@bw.edu. You can get all of the latest B-W athletics information by visiting our Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics.
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