Johnathan Ray

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster nearly came back from an early 13-2 deficit, getting the tying run to the plate in the eighth inning, but Baldwin-Wallace College held on to spoil the Fighting Scots' home opener and prevailed 15-12 in the northeast Ohio foes' non-conference match-up Wednesday at Art Murray Field.

With gusty winds blowing out to right field, Baldwin-Wallace (15-2) jumped on Wooster's (9-5) pitching early, highlighted by an eight-run third inning. That frame featured an Eric Murphy grand slam, followed by a Kyle Chontos solo shot, which gave the Yellow Jackets that 13-2 advantage.

The Fighting Scots got right back into it with two runs in the bottom of the third and four in the fourth. During the third, both Johnathan Ray and Cal Thomay delivered RBI doubles, and Eddie Reese answered Baldwin-Wallace's grand slam with one of his own the next inning. It marked Reese's fourth home run in as many games, and brought Wooster within 13-8.

Baldwin-Wallace got two runs back in the fifth by taking advantage of two infield errors, and that turned out to be all of the Yellow Jackets offense as Kyle Koski and Ben Cerami held them scoreless the final four innings.

It was the Scots turn to tally a couple of unearned runs in the seventh, both coming courtesy of a two-out Matt Felvey home run. It was the sophomore's first collegiate round-tripper.

Wooster continued to chip away with a two-out rally in the eighth. Reese started things with a double to left-center and scored on a Zac Mathie single to right. After a wild pitch advanced Mathie to second, Ray lined a hard single up the middle that made it a three-run game. Billy Farrow followed with a double into the left-field corner, which brought the potential tying run to the plate, but reliever Jon Tenley entered and helped Baldwin-Wallace out of the jam.

Tenley closed it out in the ninth, overcoming a leadoff error, for his third save, while the Yellow Jackets' Jon Capadona picked up the win (2-0). He worked 3.2 innings of middle relief, giving up two earned runs on six hits.

Koski was most effective on the mound for the Scots, throwing three shutout innings with just three hits allowed.

Reese and Ray both went 3-for-5 with a combined six RBI to pace the Wooster offense, while Murphy generated seven RBI for the visitors and Zach Ferster had a 4-for-5, 3-RBI outing.

The Scots look to regroup this weekend with a four-game set against North Coast Athletic Conference East Division foe Kenyon College (13-5, 2-0 NCAC East).