Zack Vesco

Muskingum University scored a pair of eighth-inning runs to knock off The College of Wooster, ranked No. 6 in this week's D3baseball.com top-25 poll, by a 5-3 score during a non-conference contest Thursday in New Concord, Ohio.

Wooster (21-7) had faced a 3-1 deficit before tying it with one score in the sixth and another in the eighth, then Alex Vaccaro of Muskingum (12-13) came through with a two-out, two-run single up the middle during the bottom of the latter frame, which turned out to be the decisive at bat.

Zack Vesco managed a one-out base knock in the top of the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate, however, the Fighting Scots could do no further damage.

The Muskies set the tone early, as Forrest Wright homered in the bottom of the first to give his squad a 1-0 lead. They tacked on another run in the second when Vaccaro singled home Tyler Hardcastle, who had a leadoff double.

Wooster's first score came during the third, with Chris Wood cracking an RBI double that brought Michael Wellstead in.

It stayed 2-1 until the bottom of the fifth. That frame saw Muskingum take advantage of two errors for a two-run edge on the scoreboard.

In the sixth, Matt Groezinger plated Luke Sutton on an RBI single, but during the same play, Wright gunned down a runner at home as the Muskies stayed ahead (3-2).

The Scots did even the score during the eighth, thanks to doubles from Sutton and Matthew Johnson, the latter's coming with two outs.

Wooster got a quality start out of Josh Stidham, as he went the first seven innings, allowing just two earned runs on five hits and striking out five. Reliever Tanner Hall was tagged with the loss (2-1).

Offensively, Sutton reached three times in four plate appearances, going 1-for-2 with two walks, and Vesco was the lone Scot with two hits (2-for-4).

This weekend, Wooster will be at North Coast Athletic Conference East Division foe Oberlin College (17-10, 7-1 NCAC East) for back-to-back doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. each day.