Tyler Fugate

Tyler Fugate struck out the final five batters he faced, sealing No. 4 ranked College of Wooster's 4-3 win at No. 8 Marietta College in the regional rivals' lone regular season meeting, which took place Thursday night at Don Schaly Stadium in Marietta, Ohio.

It marked a rematch of the finals from last season's NCAA Div. III Baseball Championships Mideast Regional, also a one-run victory (5-4) for the Fighting Scots.

On Thursday, Marietta (18-5) struck first, pushing across a single run in its first at bat, but Wooster (17-5) quickly answered with solo home runs from Greg Van Horn and Matthew Johnson during the second and third innings, respectively. Johnson now has five homers over his last nine games.

The fourth saw the Scots extend their lead out to 3-1 when Michael Wellstead tripled in Van Horn, and then the Pioneers responded with a tally in the home half of the frame.

That would be their final score off of Wooster starter Matt DeGrand, who went the first five innings and yielded the two runs on eight hits, and struck out six. He would get the win to improve to 3-1.

Wellstead played an integral role in the game's next score as well, leading off the seventh with a two-bagger and coming around on a Shane Swearingen base knock for what proved to be a pivotal insurance run.

Fugate had entered in the sixth, and after escaping out of a bases-loaded jam that frame, Marietta got to him during the eighth. The Pioneers utilized a pair of singles, sandwiched around a throwing error, to pull within one (4-3) and then moved a runner into scoring position with one out. The junior right-hander rose to the occasion, striking out the next two to get out of the eighth and all three in the ninth.

Overall, Fugate struck out nine in just four innings of work and the lone run he allowed was unearned, as he collected his third save.

Offensively, Johnson (2-for-3), Van Horn (2-for-4), and Wellstead (2-for-4) paced the Scots.

Wooster returns to action Saturday when it will travel to North Coast Athletic Conference foe Allegheny College (12-6, 5-1 NCAC East) for a doubleheader at 1 p.m.