WOOSTER, Ohio – The seventh-ranked College of Wooster baseball team packed a punch offensively and walked the tight rope from a defensive and pitching standpoint, but in the end, the Fighting Scots got the job done and downed DePauw University 11-10 to complete the sweep of the season-opening North Coast Athletic Conference series at Art Murray Field on Saturday.

Senior Drew Tornow closes in on a fly ball for the final out of the game that came with the bases loaded.

Senior Drew Tornow led the charge with a 4-for-5 game with three RBI and two runs scored. The right fielder also tracked down a tough fly ball near the line to end the game after DePauw (2-12, 0-2 NCAC) loaded the bases in the top of the ninth inning.

The first inning featured an offensive explosion by both teams, and during Wooster's (11-3, 2-0 NCAC) turn at bat, the Scots chased Tiger starter Tyler Holt after 2/3 of an inning and five runs on the scoreboard. Sophomore Nick Strausbaugh sparked the Scots from the get-go with a leadoff seeing-eye single up the middle, and Wooster loaded the bases after junior Michael Wielansky walked and sophomore Dan Harwood was plunked by a pitch. That set the stage for junior Garrett Crum who smashed a two-run single through the left side of the infield. Later in the inning, sophomore Dan Gail knocked in a pair with a double, and junior Tanner Kaplan capped the scoring with a RBI base knock.

Wooster turned to the long ball in the second inning for three runs. Harwood accounted for the first two with his team-leading sixth home run, and two batters later, Tornow tattooed a solo shot off the roof of L.C. Boles Golf Course's clubhouse beyond the right field fence to make it 8-3.

With both teams turning to their bullpens early, sophomores Max Lackner and Jeremy Parton combined to calm the early DePauw surge by allowing two hits in five innings of relief. Lackner inherited a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the third inning with Wooster clinging to an 8-6 lead and retired the first three Tigers he faced. Parton's two-inning stint on the bump was headlined by a one-two-three sixth inning.

DePauw took its first lead of the series in the eighth inning on Collin Einertson's two-run single that made it 10-9, but the Scots answered right back with a two-spot in the bottom of the frame.

Tornow tied the game with a single to straight away center field that brought Crum in after the Scots' first baseman was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Tornow moved himself into scoring position with a stolen base, which led to Gail's single standing as the game-winning hit.

DePauw applied a lot of pressure in the ninth with a walk and two hit batsmen, but senior James Usher stranded three and improved to 2-1 on the year.

Gail backed Tornow up on the day, and the Scots' six and seven hitters were an impressive 7-for-10 with six RBI and three runs scored. In all, six Scots logged multiple hits in the contest, and overall, Wooster pounded out 18.

Nick Casey was the loser for DePauw, and he fell to 1-3. The Tigers were led offensively by Nolan Lavender's 2-for-4 game with three RBI.

Next, Wooster opens a 10-game road trip with a 4 p.m. tilt at Muskingum University (9-8) on Tuesday, April 3.