BEXLEY, Ohio — The Wilmington College baseball team competed its four-game sweep of Capital University by winning both games of an Ohio Athletic Conference road twinbill Tuesday afternoon, 8-7 in game one and 12-1 in game two.
In game one, Wilmington scored in each of the first four innings including a two-run first that featured RBI-singles from both Aaron Burns and Joe Legin. A Tyler Shaneyfelt singled scored Evan Kelsey in the second and a sacrifice fly from Jared Lammert in the third gave the Quakers a 4-0 lead. Another scoreless inning from starter Luke Chappie followed, and the visitors doubled their advantage in the fourth as Burns cleared the bases with a double and Lammert singled home another run.
Wilmington would end up needing every single run as Capital plated three in the sixth and four runs on three hits in the eighth. The Crusaders had the tying run 90 feet from home plate as well as the go-ahead run on second, but a popup to second ended the inning. GlenAllen Anderson entered in the bottom of the ninth, and despite surrendering a single and a stolen base with just one out, earned his first save of the season with two infield popups.
Chappie got the five-inning victory, allowing no runs and scattering four hits and three walks with a strikeout. Curtis Clark dipped to 1-3 with the loss, allowing five earned runs on seven hits and three walks in 3.2 innings pitched.
Burns led the way for Wilmington offensively with a 2-for-5 performance with four RBIs and the lone extra-base hit of the game for the squad. Legin also had a multi-hit game while Shaneyfelt stole two bases. Kurt Maxwell finished 4-of-5 for Capital in defeat.
In the nightcap, the Quakers’ offense once again got it going in the early innings with a three-run second inning and four-run third. This time, however, Wilmington’s starting pitcher would go the distance. Aaron Boster, coming off a complete game in his last outing, struck out eight over seven innings while allowing just four hits and one unearned run. The Quakers’ offense, after giving Boster seven runs of support, scored one in the fifth and put up a four-spot in the seventh to end the game two innings early.
Shaneyfelt, Kelsey and Caleb Scott all had three hits in game two with two of Scott’s hits being doubles. Lammert finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Ben Stevens led Capital in defeat, accounting for two of the team’s four hits.
“I’m really proud of how our younger guys are coming on in a season that had its ups and downs so far,” Head Baseball Coach Tony Vittorio said. “We have to carry this momentum into the final regular season series with Heidelberg University this weekend.”
Wilmington (11-23, 10-20 OAC) will close out the 2021 regular season with a four-game series against Heidelberg University on Friday and Saturday this weekend.
