Justin McDowell

North Coast Athletic Conference East Division rivals Allegheny College and The College of Wooster took part in a pair of pitcher's duels Saturday at Meadville, Pa., with the teams splitting the doubleheader as Wooster took the first 3-1 and Allegheny answered with a 2-0 victory.

Wooster (13-3, 4-2 NCAC East), ranked No. 3 by D3baseball.com, was limited to just five hits all day, including two in the opener but still scratched out a win. Allegheny (7-6, 1-1 NCAC) grabbed a 1-0 lead during the bottom of the fourth, only to see the Fighting Scots respond right away with one in the fifth and a pair in the sixth inning.

Matt Groezinger drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, moved to third on a one-out single by Zack Vesco, and scored on Colin Meinzer's sacrifice fly. In the sixth, Matthew Johnson started out by taking first on a hit by pitch and eventually came home on an error, and then Stu Beath drove in Luke Sutton, who had reached via an error, on a sacrifice fly.

That was enough of a cushion for Wooster pitcher Justin McDowell, who improved to 4-0 after going all seven innings and yielding just the one run on five total hits. McDowell struck out nine without a walk.

In the nightcap, the Gators' Matt Dishong took over on the mound for an injured starter at the beginning of the second inning and kept the Scots' bats quiet, tossing six scoreless innings of three-hit ball.

Offensively, Allegheny took advantage of some Wooster miscues, notching an unearned run in the first and third innings. Tyler Fugate was the tough-luck loser (2-1), giving up just five hits over 5.1 innings while striking out seven.

For the Scots, Shane Swearingen was the lone starter to get a hit in each game, going 2-for-5 with a walk overall.

The two teams will complete their NCAC divisional doubleheader Sunday, with the starting time having been moved up to 10 a.m.