Matthew Johnson

WOOSTER, Ohio – Matthew Johnson homered in his first two at bats and pitchers Matt Barnes and Matt DeGrand combined to throw eight scoreless innings, keying No. 3 ranked College of Wooster's 6-1 win over Capital University in the Fighting Scots' 2010 home opener at Art Murray Field Wednesday afternoon.

After Barnes faced the minimum in the top of the first, Johnson sent a drive to the opposite field (right-center), easily clearing the fence as the ball hit off the roof of the golf clubhouse. Wooster (12-2) nearly added two more that frame, but another drive to right was snagged by Ian Smith as he reached back over the fence and robbed Stu Beath of a home run.

Capital (4-8) switched pitchers in the third and Johnson promptly greeted the reliever by depositing a ball well over the left-field fence to give the Scots a 2-0 lead.

Johnson also accounted for the third RBI of the game when he drew a bases-loaded, two-out walk during the fourth.

Wooster gained some additional separation in the fifth, as Greg Van Horn and Matt Groezinger started by reaching on a hit by pitch and a sharp single up the middle, respectively. They would each eventually score, Van Horn via a Beath groundout and Groezinger on a Colin Meinzer sacrifice fly, making it a 5-0 margin.

The Scots would score once more, with Van Horn being the catalyst again. He roped a one-out double over the right fielder in the seventh inning and came around when Beath found an opening through the right side for an RBI single.

The six runs were plenty for Barnes and DeGrand. Barnes went the first five, limiting the Crusaders to four hits and one walk en route to upping his record to 2-1, and DeGrand followed with three frames of one-hit scoreless ball. They each struck out one.

Johnson (2-for-4), Van Horn (2-for-4), and Shane Swearingen (2-for-3) finished with two hits apiece.

Capital also had three players with two hits – Zack Byers (2-for-3), Brandon Natale (2-for-4), and Jacob Thuman (2-for-3). Natale's sharply-laced single in the ninth scored Byers.

Wooster will be back at Art Murray Field Thursday afternoon, as No. 10 ranked Marietta College (11-3) is slated for a visit at 3:30 p.m.