PORT CHARLOTTE, Florida – First-year Devin Anthony was flat out dominant in his first collegiate start, throwing eight innings of four-hit shutout baseball in Tuesday's 5-1 win over Arcadia University, in what marked Barry Craddock's 250th win as a collegiate baseball head coach. Overall, The College of Wooster baseball team went 2-3 over its opening week in Florida. Wooster bounced back from a 19-7 loss to Mitchell College in Sunday's trip opener with a 15-13 win over Babson College. The Fighting Scots fell 8-7 to No. 18 North Central College on Wednesday and 16-0 to Babson on Thursday.
Anthony (2-0) handled Arcadia's lineup with ease early, sending the Knights back to the dugout in order in the first, second, and fourth innings. The righty retired nine in a row before Ryan Smolen punched a two-out single through the left side of the infield in the fifth inning. Later, the Knights' third hit of the game was erased when junior second baseman Eli Westrick started an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play in the sixth inning. No Arcadia baserunner reached scoring position on Anthony until the eighth inning, and the first-year had five strikeouts on the day.
Westrick slapped an RBI double down the right field line in the second inning, which plated first-year catcher Colin Leslie for the game's first run. A wild pitch made it 2-0, while in the fourth, sophomore shortstop Nick Pett doubled the lead to 4-0 with a two-run two-bagger down the right field line. Senior right fielder Dean Brown followed with an RBI single for the Scots' final run of the Arcadia win.
Senior first baseman Dane Camphausen's trip got off to a scorching start. He went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, an RBI, and a walk in the trip lid-lifter against Mitchell. In Sunday's nightcap, Camphausen tallied three base knocks in five at bats, scored four times, and drove in four runs. He blasted a second round-tripper against Babson, with that dinger putting Wooster up 15-10 in the ninth inning.
Brown clubbed a grand slam as part of Wooster's five-run third, and the Scots scored nine times between innings three and four against the Beavers. Senior Ryan Sullivan (1-0) started and allowed four runs on eight hits in five innings. Senior Christian Johnston came on in the ninth and worked out of the jam to secure the save.
Wooster's top three in the lineup – Westrick, Pett, and Camphausen – combined for eight of the Scots' 12 hits against Mitchell. The game was tied at five before Mitchell broke things open in the seventh inning.
Wooster sported a 4-2 lead early against North Central. Leslie's RBI single had the Scots within 2-1 in the second, then the first-year catcher scored on a double play to tie the game at two. An inning later, Leslie reached on an error that would have been the third out of the inning had North Central made the play. Later, sophomore Ben Carroll was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. That plated Camphausen, and the score grew to 4-2.
Westrick's two-run single in the sixth tied the North Central game at six, then Camphausen knocked in the Scots' second baseman with an RBI single. North Central took the lead on Luke Lehnen's two-run single in the sixth inning. Sophomore Alex Gerdenich worked 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief against North Central.
Tim Noone shut down Wooster in the first week's finale, firing 7 1/3 innings of two-hit shutout baseball. Noone struck out 10 Scots. Westrick was the lone Scot to find success against Noone, and he had both of the hits. Babson was paced by Brant Savage's 3-for-6 morning that included three RBI and two runs scored.
Wooster (2-3) now heads a couple hours north in advance of playing in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. Wooster's week two opponents are Keystone College (March 20, 9 a.m.), No. 10 Johns Hopkins University (March 20, 12:30 p.m.), Lawrence University (March 22, 10:30 a.m.), Colby College (March 22, 2 p.m.), and Washington & Jefferson College (March 24, doubleheader starting at 10:15 a.m.).