Gators Walk Off, Then Sweep 25th-Ranked Scots

Allegheny College flipped the script on the 25th-ranked College of Wooster baseball team on Sunday afternoon, as the Gators walked-off the Fighting Scots 3-2 in game one, then went on to take game two 10-7 at Robertson Field in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

For the second day in a row, Wooster (20-8) and Allegheny (14-9) headed to the bottom of the seventh inning deadlocked at two. Brett Heckert led off the frame with a double to left. Next, Chase Chodkowski pinch hit for designated hitter Jonathan Sharp, and his well-placed bunt led to a single. On the play, Wooster junior Colin Springer (2-1) uncorked a wild throw, and that error enabled Heckert to score the winning run.

About 24 hours earlier, Wooster sophomore third baseman Dean Brown was the hero when the teams met at Art Murray Field. His walk-off three-run homer lifted the Scots to a 5-2 win over the Gators in Saturday's first game.

At Sunday's onset, Wooster senior Steve Spidell and Allegheny sophomore Daniel Morgano went toe-to-toe in a pitcher's duel. Morgano set down Wooster in order in the top of the first inning, then Spidell did likewise in the bottom of the frame, with the Scots' righty collecting two strikeouts along the way. Three up, three down was the theme once again in the second inning, then Wooster broke through in the third, thanks to Brown's one-out single to center. However, Morgano's defense turned an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play on the very next pitch.

Spidell, who also worked a one-two-three third inning, ran into trouble in the fourth. That's when Luke Chutko got ahold of a 2-2 offering for a two-run homer out to left field. Hines tracked down a fly ball near the right field line to prevent any further damage.

As is the case so often in baseball, those who make big plays defensively typically are due up in a key spot not long after. That was the case in the fifth inning, with Hines stepping to the plate with the bases loaded, and the biochemistry and molecular biology major did his job with a game-tying sacrifice fly. An inning prior, back-to-back walks issued to junior shortstop Tyler Chumita and Hines started the frame, then Wooster struck first on junior center fielder Ben Gbur's RBI single.

Morgano (3-0) went the distance, allowing two runs on five hits, and he struck out nine Scots. Heckert was the lone Gator with a multi-hit game.

Sherman was the only Scot with a multi-hit game, while Spidell allowed two runs on four hits in six innings of work. He struck out five Gators.

A wild game two saw a combined nine runs score and four errors committed in the first inning. Wooster did its damage with two outs. Brown stroked a two-run single to center for the first runs of the game, then the first of three Gator errors in the inning enabled sophomore Riley McErlean to score from second. The fielding blunders continued for Allegheny, with junior catcher Michael Thomas reaching on an error and Brown scoring on that play. After that, Chumita was hit by a pitch for the 15th time this year, and that plated Wooster's fifth run of the inning.

Wooster retook the lead at 6-5 in the third inning on Thomas' squeeze bunt, but Allegheny answered right back with a three-run third and never trailed the rest of the way.

Brown and Chumita combined for four of Wooster's six hits in the weekend finale, and the duo had three of the Scots' five RBI. Sophomore Ryan Sullivan (2-1) took the loss. He allowed three runs on three hits in an inning-plus of relief.

Tyler Hettich and Jake Stotsky went a combined 4-for-7 with six RBI for the Gators. Garrett Senchur (1-1) struck out the lone batter he faced in the fourth to earn the win.

Next, Wooster's slated to host Wittenberg University (20-9) at 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 6.