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| This Billy Farrow swing resulted in an opposite field home run during Friday's opening game. |
WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh of game two, capped by Cal Thomay's RBI single that allowed the Fighting Scots to salvage a split with a 5-4 win against Case Western Reserve University on Friday afternoon at Art Murray Field. The opener also had been 4-4 entering the seventh before the Spartans struck for four runs in an 8-4 victory.
The nightcap appeared to be headed to extra innings, with Wooster's (12-11) first two hitters of the seventh going down quietly. Craig Day started the rally with a sharp single to center, then Eddie Reese was hit by a 2-2 pitch to bring Thomay to the plate for the first time all day. He had entered in the top of the seventh as a defensive replacement at first base.
Thomay worked a full count, and with the runners in motion, sent a well-struck single into left field, which allowed Day to easily score the game winner.
Case (20-11-1) had jumped to leads of 3-0 and 4-2, but the tide started to turn in the top of the fifth when Colin Meinzer got out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam by inducing a 6-4-3 double play.
The Scots kept the momentum going in the sixth inning, as Billy Farrow drew a one-out walk and Johnathan Ray followed with a double into the left-field corner. Next, Zac Mathie delivered a two-run single down the right-field line to knot the score at four.
Zach Klein pitched a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, his second inning of work, and after Wooster's rally, the sophomore right-hander picked up his first career win while factoring in a decision for the first time this spring (1-0).
In the opener, it was the Scots that opened up an early lead, going ahead 3-0 through three runs as they took advantage of a pair of defensive miscues for two unearned runs in the first and then added a single tally in the third. Mathie deposited a two-out double into right-center to plate Ray for the 3-0 lead.
The Spartans evened the score via a three-run fourth inning that included home runs by Paul Pakan and Peter Zak.
Farrow answered for Wooster, sending the first pitch of the bottom of the fifth over the right-field fence as his third homer of the season put the hosts ahead 4-3.
Case's Andrew Gronski led off the sixth with a home run to tie it again, and in the seventh, the visitors strung together five consecutive one-out hits to pull away to the win.
Offensively on the day, Ray paced the Scots with three hits (3-for-5). Mathie matched Ray's three RBI and was the only other Scot to get a hit in each game.
Wooster is scheduled to be right back in action on Saturday afternoon, visiting Hiram College (8-18, 0-10 NCAC East) for a North Coast Athletic Conference East Division doubleheader.