Bryan Miller

Michael Whitaker

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster came back from a 6-1 deficit with a five-run fifth inning and later broke the 6-6 tie by scoring three times in the eighth, as the Fighting Scots prevailed 9-6 in game two over Kenyon College to complete a sweep of their North Coast Athletic Conference East Division foe after taking the opener 10-5 during a rare Monday matinee at Art Murray Field.

The four-game set had been originally scheduled to take place over the weekend, however, inclement weather pushed it to a Monday-Tuesday series.

The rally by Wooster (10-4, 2-0 NCAC East) in the nightcap began at the bottom of the order. With Kenyon (8-8, 0-2 NCAC) up five, thanks in large part to John Nahra's fourth-inning grand slam, Craig Day and Bryan Miller each singled to start the home half of the fifth, with Miller's coming on a perfectly-placed bunt. Jarrod Mancine followed suit with a base knock to load the bases and Day was brought home via sacrifice fly, then Eddie Reese walked to fill the bases again and Zac Mathie sent a two-run single through the right side on the first pitch he saw. Next, Brendan Taylor delivered a drive into the right-center gap, scoring two more on his third triple of the year, and the Fighting Scots had suddenly tied the game at six.

That was all of the scoring until the eighth, when Day and Miller sparked the offense again. Day lined a single into center, Miller bounced one through the left side that allowed Day to reach third (Miller was out on the play in an aggressive attempt to get to second on the throw). Mancine came through with a double just inside the third-base line to give Wooster the lead (7-6) and then John McLain drove one into the right-field corner for a triple and two-run advantage. McLain later scored on a sacrifice fly.

Michael Whitaker, who came on in relief to start the seventh inning, and Jon Rothman continued their fine work out of the bullpen for the Scots. Whitaker notched the win (2-0) and Rothman the save (2), as they faced just one batter over the minimum, and they've yielded just one run this season over a combined 24.2 innings now.

In game one, Wooster trailed 1-0 through three before taking advantage of defensive miscues from the Lords. Mancine drew a walk to open the fourth and a bouncer to the shortstop followed, but instead of a double play, an error was committed that helped spark a four-run inning. Reese brought in Mancine on a single, Mathie walked to load the bases, and a second error occurred on a throw home during a fielder's choice play, which gave the Scots the lead (2-1), still with no outs in the inning. Frank Vance and Cal Thomay tacked on RBI singles for the three-run advantage.

Wooster put another four spot on the scoreboard in the fifth inning, as it again loaded the bases without an out, this time featuring a Reese double. Also just like in the fourth, there was an error on a fielder's choice throw to home plate, and later, Thomay added an RBI single to make it 8-1 and effectively seal the outcome of the seven-inning game.

Steve Hagen evened his record to 2-2 with a quality start of one run over six innings.

Offensively over the two games, Miller led the way with four hits (4-for-7) while Mancine (3-for-6) and Reese (3-for-7) tallied three apiece.

Jackson Celestin had three hits, all in the first game, to pace Kenyon's bats.

Tuesday's twin bill between the two teams will start at noon.