The baseball team (15-10, 9-3 NCAC) went 3-1 over the weekend in North Coast Athletic Conference play.† On April 9, the squad swept Oberlin College (10-12, 1-5 NCAC) 6-3 and 5-1. The next day the team split its series with Wittenberg University (17-12, 7-3 NCAC), winning the first game 10-8 before losing the second 8-9. With the sweep of Oberlin, the Scots took over sole position of first place in the NCAC.
The stellar batting of Greg Van Horn ’11 and Johnathon Ray ’13, who both hit home runs in two separate innings, highlighted the first game against Oberlin. The offensive cushion they provided helped Justin McDowell ’11 to his fifth win of the season.
The second game also began with strong batting from the Scots, in which the squad notched a run three times in the first inning. The scoring helped Matt Barnes ’11 to pitch a complete game. Barnes’ performance, in which he struck out eight without allowing a walk, brought his season record to 4-0.
“I feel that I’ve been improving as the season has been progressing,” Barnes said earlier this week. “All our rough start over spring break did was make me want to work harder and I’m glad it’s paying off.”
The next day the Scots traveled to Springfield to battle traditional rival Wittenberg. With the help of three run homeruns by Zach Mathie ’14 and Craig Day ’14, the squad built a 9-2 lead against Wittenberg by the end of the fifth inning.
Wooster had to withstand a rally from the Tigers in the fifth and seventh innings before notching the victor and getting Keenan White ’13 his first pitching win on the season. Leading the Scots offensively was Van Horn, who went 3-5 on the day with three RBI.
Van Horn, the preseason D3baseball.com Player of the Year, has amassed 27 hits, 37 runs, and a .439 batting average so far this season. He leads the team in all three of those categories.
Just like in the first contest, Wooster built a strong cushion early in the game, leading Wittenberg 4-0 after a first inning performance that saw each of Wooster’s first three batters reach the bases.
The squad built its lead to five with two runs in the second and one more in the third. However, its rival slowly chipped away at the score and by the end of the fourth Wittenberg trailed by only one.
The Tigers took the lead with a three run sixth inning and never gave it back, eventually winning the contest 9-8. Scots’ pitcher Steve Hagan ’14 (3-2), allowed three runs on four hits and took the loss.
Day’s performance on the weekend, which included two home runs in the first game against Wittenberg, won him NCAC Player of the Week honors.
“We’ve been super happy about our hitting and pitching as the season has been coming along,” Barnes said. “The kids, especially the freshmen, have been getting stronger and it shows when we hit the ball out of the park.”
Over the four games against Oberlin and Wittenberg last weekend, Day had 5 RBI and went 5-9 at the plate, bringing his season batting average to .339 and extending his hitting streak to nine games.
Wooster travels to play Baldwin-Wallace College (13-10, 1-5 OAC) today at 4 p.m.