CHILLICOTHE, Ohio – It was Ben Gbur's night at his summer home, as The College of Wooster senior blasted a game-altering three-run home run, then fired three innings of shutout baseball to cap Thursday night's 5-3 win over Wittenberg University on day one of the 2022 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at VA Memorial Stadium.
Wooster (28-12) was up 1-0 when Gbur turned on an Austin Luther fourth-inning pitch and powered it out of the park for his 10th home run of the year. Prior to the round-tripper, senior catcher Michael Thomas reached on a fielder's choice and senior left fielder Dominic Stilliana ripped a one-out single through the left side of the infield.
Gbur, who will be playing for the Chillicothe Paints for the second straight summer, led off the game with a single up the middle, then scored on sophomore second baseman Eli Westrick's single to center field. Wittenberg (27-11) loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning before junior right-hander Dean Brown (1-0) walked the tight rope and escaped without surrendering a run. Brown jammed cleanup Tiger Jack Siefert, who fouled out to junior first baseman Dane Camphausen, then the junior struck out the next two Wittenberg batters.
Wittenberg pulled within 4-3 in the fourth inning, with the bottom third of the Tigers' lineup logging three straight RBI at bats. Brown recovered to get leadoff Tiger Gabe Stacy to fly out to Gbur, who had five putouts in center prior to taking over on the bump. Brown's defense picked the right-hander up with senior right fielder Ben Hines doubling up Conor O'Malley, and in doing so, the Scots wiped out a fifth-inning leadoff single.
Junior Jack Whitehouse, who took over in center defensively for Gbur, continued his hot week with a leadoff double in the eighth inning. That hustle led to an insurance run when Thomas smacked a single to right field that Whitehouse scored on, thanks to O'Malley's boot in the outfield.
Brown collected his first win of the year. The right-hander allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings in just his second pitching appearance of the season. Junior Ethan Samangy worked a scoreless sixth inning, then Gbur did not allow a hit en route to earning his first collegiate save.
Luther (5-1) took his first loss of the year. He allowed four runs on five hits in six innings. The Tigers struck out 13 Scots.
Gbur went 3-for-5, with his third base knock coming on a leadoff triple in the third inning. Siefert and Luke Thomas had two hits apiece for Wittenberg.
Next, Wooster plays 19th-ranked Denison University (29-8) at noon on Friday, May 13 at VA Memorial Stadium. Wittenberg and DePauw University (21-16) meet up in the 4 p.m. elimination game. The winner of the Wooster-Denison game advances to the championship round while the loser plays the winner of the Wittenberg-DePauw game at approximately 7 p.m. on Friday.