WOOSTER, Ohio – When The College of Wooster baseball team's lineup is locked in good ERAs skyrocket, and Saturday was the latest display of that, with the Fighting Scots shelling Allegheny College 15-1 before the Gators rebounded and dealt out punishment of their own by taking the nightcap 11-5 at Art Murray Field.
Allegheny (20-8, 7-3 North Coast Athletic Conference) starter Conor Deasy saw his ERA take the elevator from 2.40 to 3.88 when exiting after 2 1/3 innings in Saturday's opener. The Gators' ace was tagged for nine runs on 10 hits, and all of the runs were earned.
Sophomore designated hitter Eli Westrick's double to the left-field corner started Wooster's (19-9, 8-4 NCAC) seven-run second inning. He came in to score when first-year second baseman Nick Pett belted his first collegiate home run to right center. Senior left fielder Dominic Stilliana followed up Pett's blast with a single up the middle, then advanced to third on senior catcher Michael Thomas' double to center field. Senior right fielder Ben Hines upped the score to 3-0 with a bases-loaded single. Next, senior shortstop Tyler Chumita sent everyone home with a grand slam, and the round-tripper bumped his RBI count to 50.
Multiple runs and Wooster were synonymous over a four-inning stretch in Saturday's opener. Thomas turned on a Deasy pitch for a two-run dinger in the third, then upped his RBI haul to four with a two-run fourth-inning double. Junior first baseman Dane Camphausen put the exclamation point on the 14-run win with a moonshot grand slam in the fifth inning.
Allegheny's lone run in the opening game came on Ryan Dougherty's solo homer in the fourth.
Senior Mitchell Reardon evened his record at 4-4. The left-hander went the distance, allowing one run on four hits. He struck out eight Gators.
Joseph Raleigh followed Deasy on the bump, and his ERA went from 0.00 to 4.35 after getting roughed up for five runs in two innings, while Garrett Senchur allowed his first earned run of the year, thanks to Camphausen greeting him with a first-pitch grand slam.
Allegheny, which entered the day third in Div. III with a 2.80 ERA, saw that jump to 3.35 after game one.
Allegheny got to Westrick (3-1) in the first of the nightcap when Brett Heckert laced an RBI single to left field. Wooster answered back in the third on Chumita's RBI single. Prior to that, Thomas was hit by a pitch, Hines replaced him on the basepaths on a fielder's choice, and then the Scots' right fielder stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error.
The Gators took the lead on William Wolff's RBI double in the fourth, then blew the game wide open with a four-spot in inning eight.
Wooster tried to climb back into the thick of things in the seventh, starting with Pett's leadoff two-bagger. The Scots' second baseman advanced to third on a Gator error, then scored when Stilliana smacked a single through the left side of the infield. Senior center fielder Ben Gbur and Hines each had RBI groundouts later in the inning, with the latter one pulling Wooster within 6-4.
Westrick allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits in five innings of work, and the right-hander struck out five, including four in a five-batter stretch spanning innings two and three. The Scots' bullpen surrendered nine runs on 13 hits in four innings.
Bobby Kusinsky picked up his seventh win of the year. He allowed an unearned run on two hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Thomas went 4-for-4 with five RBI, three runs scored, two doubles, and a homer run over the doubleheader. He finished a triple shy of the cycle in game one, and reached base safely three other times on the day, with two hit-by-pitches and a walk. Pett turned in a 5-for-7 afternoon with five runs scored, and all three of his base knocks in the nightcap went for extra bases. Hines joined the 20-steal club with his game-two swipe, and Gbur upped his team-leading total to 21 on the year.
Jake Stotsky led Allegheny with an .800 (4-for-5) average on the day, while Dougherty went 5-for-8 with three runs scored, three RBI, and two home runs.
Wooster returns to the diamond on Sunday with a trip to Heidelberg University (12-19). First pitch of Sunday's single game at Peaceful Valley is set for 1 p.m.