Jeremey Ludemann
Senior Sports Writer
Imagine that you are up to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning. It’s a tie game, and the bases are loaded with two outs in the frame. The division pennant is on the line. The count is even; two balls and two strikes. You settle into the batter’s box and await the pitch. The ball hurdles your way, and you knock the cover off of the ball, sending it over the left- center field fence for a gigantic grand slam. You have just placed your team one inning away from a championship.
This was reality for senior standout Eddie Reese last Sunday. The Canfield native’s round-tripper powered the Scots to a 13-9 lead against Allegheny College in the third game of a pivotal four game series with the Gators. The Scots would silence Allegheny the rest of the way to win by the same four-run margin at Art Murray Field. The Black and Old Gold’s resurgent rally clinched the North Coast Athletic Conference Eastern division for Wooster and gave the Scots another series win over one of the Great Lakes region’s finest teams.
Both squads entered the series with identical 10-2 marks in the NCAC Eastern Division, with the winner of the series getting the number one seed for this weekend’s NCAC Cross-Over Series — the de facto first-round of the conference tournament. The teams played twin-bills on Saturday and Sunday, with the first games each day lasting seven innings each and the nightcaps lasting the normal nine.
On Saturday, Wooster was led the by pitching prowess of Steve Hagen ’14 and Matt Felvey ’14. Although Wooster won 9-6 in game one, Hagen only had two runs attributed to him, as the Scots racked up four errors in the field. Despite the disappointing defensive effort from The Black and Old Gold, Hagen garnered eight strikeouts in the contest to set up the three-run victory. Wooster’s bats also came alive, as Jarrod Mancine ’14, Zac Mathie ’14 and John McLain ’15 all hit towering home-runs to pace the Scots offensively.
Felvey continued his sparkling season in Saturday’s game two, as he and the Scots allowed only two runs and scattered eight hits in seven strong innings pitched. Wooster’s offense continued to swamp the Gators, as McLain’s first career grand slam highlighted a nine-run second and 15-2 Scots win.
On Sunday, the Gators chomped up the Scots early, as they got out to an early 6-0 lead after one inning. Wooster fought back, posting four runs in the third to cut the Allegheny advantage to three at 7-4. Wooster would outscore the visitors 9-2 the rest of the way, with Reese’s grand slam breaking the nine-all tie in the bottom of the sixth. In the final game of the series, Allegheny was able to outpace the Scots in a 15-12 slugfest.
Wooster faced Ohio Northern on Tuesday, traveled to Heidelberg on Wednesday after press time and will attempt to defrocktheBattlingBishopsofOhioWesleyantomorrowandSundayfortheNCACCross-OverSeries. TheScotshope to keep rolling offensively.
For Reese, the key for the Scots this weekend is to “make every at bat a quality at bat” and to “keep the pressure on the other team at all times.” The winner of the encounter between the Red and Black and the Black and Old Gold will advance to next week’s NCAC Championship at Chillicothe, Ohio’s VA Memorial Stadium. This weekend’s contests will start at noon at Art Murray Field, with two nine-inning games being played on Saturday and one nine-inning game slated for Sunday.