WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Wilmington College baseball team won its first Ohio Athletic Conference contest of the season, splitting a doubleheader with Heidelberg at Tewksbury-Delaney Field on Friday.
The Quakers won game one 11-5 and the Student Princes took game two 11-7.
Offense was plentiful early for both teams. Five of the first six Student Princes reached base via hits, but WC starter Aaron Boster limited the damage to just three runs by striking out the side with the bases loaded.
The Quakers mirrored that start for the first three batters in the bottom of the first. After a strikeout with the bases loaded, Jesse Reliford singled to right center scoring Tyler Shaneyfelt. A Student Prince error followed, plating both Owen Baumann and Jared Lammert to tie the game.
In the home second, the WC offense loaded the bases. Baumann, the third batter of the inning, bunted in an attempt to move runners over, but beat the throw for a single. That throw hit Baumann in the back, allowing both Shaneyfelt and Evan Eilerman to score. WC would go on to plate two run runs and take a 7-3 lead into the third.
Caleb Scott, who tallied a seven-RBI performance in the Quakers’ 16-4 win at Miami University-Hamilton a day earlier, drove home Baumann in the fourth to make it 8-3. Boster ran into trouble in the fifth and was pulled after walking his third batter of the inning, marking the first since Opening Day the junior hadn’t pitched at least six innings. With the bases loaded leading 8-5, Zach Shepherd stuck out Zane Mirgin to preserve the lead.
Wilmington got those two runs back in the bottom of the sixth as Baumann singled and Lammert doubled to open the inning. Scott then hit his second RBI-single of the game, and Jesse Reliford grounded into a double play that scored another run. The hosts would add an insurance run in the seventh as Carter Scheben double home Evan Kelsey, and Shepherd retired six of the last seven batters to secure his first collegiate victory.
Wilmington pounded out 17 hits in the game and stole four bases. Baumann finished 3-for-4 with a walk and four runs scored while Lammert also had a three-hit game one while Shaneyfelt, Calhoun, Scott and Scheben also had multi-hit contests. For Heidelberg, Kyle Krummen and Andrew Pokley both had two hits and drove in two runs.
In the nightcap, Heidelberg jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings. Lammert opened the scoring for WC in the bottom of the third with an RBI-single scoring Shaneyfelt, and after an error loaded the bases, Reliford drew a bases-loaded walk to plate another run. The Quakers manufactured a run without a hit in the next inning as Kelsey walked, advanced to second on a passed ball, tagged up to third on a flyout and scored on a wild pitch.
Trailing 6-3, Wilmington got the tying run into scoring position in the sixth as Shaneyfelt doubled down the right field line to score a run, but a groundout ended the inning.
Shaneyfelt went 3-for-5 for WC with an RBI, two runs scored and two stolen bases.
Wilmington (10-14, 1-5 OAC) heads to Ohio Northern Tuesday.
