GRANVILLE, Ohio – Senior center fielder Ben Gbur found his groove with six hits, five RBI, and a home run in both games, and sophomore right-hander Eli Westrick turned in another solid start to help The College of Wooster baseball team to a key North Coast Athletic Conference split with frontrunning Denison University. Denison, ranked 25th in this week's D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 25 Poll, took game one from Wooster 6-5, while the Fighting Scots won the nightcap 10-6.
Arms very familiar to Wooster (23-10, 9-5 NCAC) toed the rubber for eight innings of the nightcap, with Denison's (23-8, 11-2 NCAC) Charlie Fleming leading things off. Gbur jumped on an early offering from the right-hander, and sent it down the left field line for a leadoff double. Senior shortstop Tyler Chumita plated the Scots' table-setter with a single up the middle, and later, junior first baseman Dane Camphausen smacked an RBI single through the right side.
Wooster, which never trailed in the nightcap, upped its lead to 4-1 on Chumita's milestone two-run single in the fifth. With the RBI, the Scots' All-American joined the prestigious now-16-member list of those with a 60-RBI season in the storied program's history.
Gbur's RBI double in the sixth made it a 5-3 game, then in the seventh, Camphausen gave Wooster some breathing room with a two-run homer down the line in right. Wooster, which scored in each of the last five innings, took an 8-3 lead on Gbur's solo blast in the eighth, then pulled ahead 10-5 on first-year second baseman Nick Pett's RBI knock in the ninth inning.
Westrick (4-1) kept the Big Red off balance for 6 2/3 innings, yielding just five hits. The right-hander allowed three runs and struck out six. Junior Christian Johnston (save four) thwarted Denison's ninth-inning rally by retiring the three batters he faced for his second save of the week.
Fleming fell to 4-2 after allowing four runs on nine hits in five innings. Left-hander Will McManaman followed and was tagged for four runs on four hits in his three innings on the bump.
Defensively, Pett started a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play in the first to thwart a potential Big Red answer-back, and Wooster's defense stranded six Big Red on the bases in the nightcap.
Gbur's three-run homer tied Saturday's opener at three in the fifth inning. Prior to the dinger, senior catcher Michael Thomas laced a two-out single through the left side of the infield, a feat that was then matched by senior left fielder Dominic Stilliana.
Denison, aided in part by two Wooster errors, answered right back in the bottom of the frame. Danny Alvarez's sacrifice fly brought in the go-ahead run, then Jake Welsch upped the Big Red's lead to 5-3 on a RBI single.
Wooster rallied in the ninth, starting with Thomas' infield single. Chumita's opposite-field poke down the left field line brought in the Scots' catcher, and Westrick followed suit with an RBI single to pull the Scots within 6-5. Kenny Lippman, another Denison arm with lots of experience against Wooster, rebounded to get the game-ending strikeout, with that marking his eighth in three innings of relief work.
Left-hander Trey Holland ran his record to 4-0 after allowing three runs on seven hits in six innings. Lippman went the rest of the way for the three-inning save. He surrendered five hits, but only allowed the two ninth-inning runs.
Wooster senior Mitchell Reardon fell to 4-5. The left-hander gave up six runs (four earned) on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. Junior Ethan Samangy continued to impress out of the bullpen, this time with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Chumita complemented Gbur's 6-for-10 afternoon with a 7-for-10 showing. The smooth-swinging lefty had four RBI and scored once. Westrick added four hits, a RBI, a double, and a triple on the day.
Alvarez swung the hot stick for Denison, going 5-for-6 with four RBI.
Next, Wooster opens a home-and-home with John Carroll University (17-17). The Scots hit the road for the opener, with first pitch from Schweickert Field set for 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 1.