Jake Kail

Baldwin Wallace University, ranked 10th by D3baseball.com, broke open a close, low-scoring game with a six-run eighth inning to defeat No. 7 College of Wooster 8-3 in non-conference action Wednesday at Heritage Field in Berea, Ohio.

A Drew Tornow solo home run – the first of the rising freshman's career – broke a 2-2 tie during the top of the eighth, but Wooster (30-7) was unable to make it hold up.

Baldwin Wallace (28-8) quickly responded, loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the frame and pinch hitter Spencer Badia drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to even the score again. The next batter, Cole Nieto, was hit by a pitch, also on a 3-2 count, to give the Yellow Jackets their first lead, but the big blow came next when Kyle Chontos cleared the bases with a double down the right-field line for a 7-2 cushion.

Prior to that, the Scots' pitching had been strong. Tyler Schuch started and threw four shutout innings, then Hank Schlueter took the mound for two, in which he struck out five, as they put Wooster in position to win with a 2-1 advantage through six.

The Scots had broken a scoreless tie during the fifth. With one out, Jake Fling tripled and he came home on a Jake Kail base knock up the middle, and later in the inning, Jamie Lackner contributed an RBI double to make it 2-0.

Baldwin Wallace got to Schlueter for one tally in the sixth. He did strikeout the last two hitters of the frame to strand the tying run at third base.

Nieto led off the bottom of the seventh with a triple and the Yellow Jackets scored the equalizer via a sacrifice fly.

Kail (2-for-4) and Baldwin Wallace's Eric Murphy (2-for-5) were the only players with multi-hit days.

Wooster will look to regroup for this weekend's North Coast Athletic Conference Cross-Over Series against Wabash College (12-23). The two teams will play three games at the Scots' Art Murray Field, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon, and the winner of the series advances to next week's NCAC Tournament.