Joey Gilmore

Michael Houdek

WOOSTER, Ohio – Michael Houdek spun a six-hit shutout in leading The College of Wooster to a 3-0 opening win, then the offense erupted for a season-high 23 hits, including eight doubles and five home runs, during a 23-9 victory as the Fighting Scots swept past Wabash College in the first two games of their North Coast Athletic Conference Crossover Series played Saturday afternoon at Art Murray Field.

Having clinched the three-game series, Wooster (29-10, 16-2 NCAC) advances to next week's NCAC Tournament.

Houdek and Jensen Kirch of Wabash (17-22, 7-11 NCAC) quickly settled into a pitcher's duel, with neither giving up a hit through the first three innings.

The fourth turned out to be the key inning of the game. Houdek escaped a jam as the Little Giants had runners on first and third with no outs when Chandler Dippman made a nice diving stab of a line drive, followed by a 6-4-3 double play.

The Scots rode that momentum into the bottom of the frame. The heart of the order – Michael Wielansky, Jamie Lackner, and Ryan Ostendorf – strung together consecutive one-out singles, with Ostendorf's hard shot up the middle delivering the game's initial run.

Wabash put a runner on second base in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, only see Houdek preserve the 1-0 lead each time.

In the bottom of the seventh, Wooster gave Houdek a little breathing room. Kenny Reckart sent one past the third baseman and down the left-field line for a one-out double, which was followed by an error. The Scots tallied one unearned run on a fielder's choice play and Joey Gilmore produced another when he drove a double into the left-center gap for the three-run cushion.

Houdek pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning and got the first two out in the ninth before the Little Giants made things interesting with back-to-back singles and a four-pitch walk to put the tying run on base. The junior southpaw bear down and struck out the final hitter for his first shutout this year and second of his career.

Overall, Houdek scattered six hits and three walks while setting down six on strikes. He improved to 7-2 this spring.

Kirch was the tough-luck loser (5-4), having yielded just one earned run on seven hits, and he struck out 10.

Wabash jumped out to a 4-0 lead in game two, courtesy of an Andrew Roginski first-inning grand slam, then it was all Wooster after that.

The Scots went ahead with a five-run second, capped by Gilmore's three-run blast off of the golf house beyond the right-center fence. It was his team-leading fifth home run, and the first of the team's 13 extra-base hits.

Wooster put a seven spot on the board in the third, featuring a Drew Tornow RBI double into right, a  Jacob Solomon RBI double to the wall in left, a three-run homer off the bat of Dippman – the first round tripper of his career – and a Wielansky two-bagger to straightaway center that made it 12-4.

The Scots kept pouring it on from there with two scores in the fourth, four in the fifth, and three more in the sixth. Tornow provided both fourth-inning runs via a two-run shot to centerfield, and the fifth included Gilmore belting one off of the batter's eye for a double and a Wielansky three-run homer to center, tying him for the team lead in home runs with his fifth.

It was Lackner's turn in the sixth, taking one the opposite way (right field) for a three-run shot just over the fence, and that put Wooster up 21-4.

Nanak Saran bounced back from a slow start, as he picked up the win (5-2) by going five innings. He didn't allow a run after the grand slam and totaled seven hits allowed.

Leading the hit parade was Gilmore, who went 4-for-4 during the second game for a five-hit day overall (5-for-8, 4 RBI), while Lackner combined to go 4-for-7.

The two teams will complete their NCAC Crossover Series, and the regular season, on Sunday, starting at 1 p.m.