Scots Seize Control of NCAC East Division With Sweep Over Lords

The College of Wooster baseball team remains in the driver's seat within the North Coast Athletic Conference East Division, as the Fighting Scots held off a late rally by visiting Kenyon College to win Sunday's opener 7-5, and then rallied back with a three-run fifth inning to take the nightcap 3-2 at Art Murray Field.

Wooster (13-5, 8-2 NCAC East Division) and Kenyon (3-3, 3-3 NCAC East Division) both entered Sunday's doubleheader poised to take control of the division with a sweep, and it took a re-energized effort for the Scots to achieve just that. Sunday's second game had a 44-minute rain delay prior to the bottom of the fifth, and upon resumption, it was all Wooster. Junior catcher Alex Gasper roped a double into center field, moved up to third on senior second baseman Gabe Sherman's fly out, and later scored on a wild pitch. Wooster stayed in business with back-to-back walks before junior shortstop Tyler Chumita laced a game-tying RBI single into center field. Next, junior right fielder Ben Hines reached on an infield single, which loaded the bases, then junior center fielder Ben Gbur plated the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly.

In the sixth, junior left-hander Mitchell Reardon (1-0), who pitched three innings of one-hit shutout baseball in support of senior starter Jay DiBacco, worked a one-two-three inning. Kenyon center fielder Ryan Page scored the hit off Reardon, and it was a leadoff two-bagger in the seventh. However, Page didn't get any further on the bases, with Reardon striking out the side, running his total to seven on the day.

Wooster had just five hits in the nightcap, with Hines accounting for two of them. The Scots' right fielder added his eighth stolen base of the season after a leadoff single in the fourth inning.

Ayden Head (0-1) took the loss. He allowed three runs on three hits in 4 1/3 innings. The Lords' six hits were scattered among six different players.

The Scots set the tone in the opener with a four-run second inning. Kenyon's Patrick Craig (0-2) handcuffed himself with a pair of walks and a hit batter, with all three of those baserunners scoring on Sherman's three-run double. Hines kept the pressure on the Lords by beating out a bunt, and that eventually led to the fourth run, when Chumita plated Sherman on a fielder's choice.

In the third, Craig couldn't handle a comebacker by senior designated hitter Noah Clement, and that extended the inning, with Gasper scoring on the play. Sherman made Kenyon pay for the error a second time, with his double down the line scoring Clement all the way from first. Wooster's final run scored on Gasper's fourth-inning sacrifice fly.

Kenyon's Kyle Dwyer blasted a two-run homer off the top of the L.C. Boles Memorial Golf Course roof in the seventh inning to pull the Lords within two before junior Colin Springer retired the next three batters to close out the game.

Senior Evan Faxon (3-1) worked around traffic all game long, stranding eight Lords on the bases in his five innings. The strikeout factored heavily into Faxon's success, as he worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second by punching out right fielder Josh Guilmart. Faxon struck out the side in the second inning and had seven on the day. Springer took over in the sixth and allowed two runs on two hits in his two innings of work.

Craig went the distance for Kenyon, allowing seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits.

Sherman went 3-for-3 with four RBI and a run scored in the opener. Dwyer had three base knocks to pace Kenyon.

Next, Wooster's at Hiram (8-22) for a non-conference doubleheader on Saturday, April 24. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.