Julie Kendall
Sports Editor
Wooster’s baseball team secured a first-place finish in the NCAC East Division after defeating Allegheny College in two out of three games in Meadville, Penn. last weekend. The fourth game in the series was cancelled due to rain, but the two wins against the conference’s second-place team were enough to capture the title. The Scots wrapped up conference play with a 12-3 NCAC East record (24-10 overall).
Both of Saturday’s games were decided by a single run, with the Scots earning a 2-1 victory in the opener before falling to the Gators by a score of 6-5. Wooster ace Keenan White ’13 earned the win for game one, and he remains undefeated on the season with nine wins. He gave up just three hits and one run in six innings on the mound.
Allegheny was the first to score on an unearned run in the second inning. They maintained their narrow lead throughout five innings while the Scots struggled to find offensive momentum. Finally, in the sixth, a brief rally that yielded two runs was enough to give Wooster the advantage. Bryan Miller ’14 got on base first after getting hit by a pitch, and advanced to second on a wild pitch during the next at-bat. On a full count, Jerrod Mancine ’14 plated Miller with an RBI single through the right side. Just one out later, Mancine stole second — his 11th stolen base for the season. Facing two outs, Zac Mathie ’14 hit a clutch single through the right side to bring Mancine home and give the Scots the one-run lead that they maintained for the rest of the game.
Game two was a slightly different story for the Scots, who held the lead for most of the game before succumbing to Allegheny’s late-game rally.
The Gators scored in the first and second innings to take an early 2-0 lead, but Wooster quickly overcame the deficit with a three-run homer from Eddie Reese ’14 in the top of the third inning. The teams took turns scoring in the fourth and sixth innings, and with RBI singles from Craig Day ’14 and John McLain ’15, Wooster made it to the bottom of the ninth with a 5-4 lead.
Allegheny didn’t lay to rest, however, and moved two batters into scoring position in the first three at-bats. They scored on an RBI groundout to even the score and send the game into extra innings. While Wooster’s bats were quiet in the top of the tenth, Allegheny continued to rally, eventually scoring on a fielding error to end the game.
In Sunday’s 13-4 victory, the Scots gained a slight 2-1 advantage in the first three innings with RBI singles from Billy Farrow ’14 and Day. They began to come alive offensively in the top of the fourth, with Miller, Mancine, McLain and Reese stringing together consecutive singles that resulted in three runs for the inning. Day hit a homer to right field to lead off the fifth inning, and the Scots racked up three unearned runs off of Allegheny’s fielding error.
Wooster added to their lead with four more runs in the sixth, including three more unearned runs and an RBI double from Miller to make the score 13-2. The Gators would score two more in the sixth, but Jon Rothman ’14 closed out the game without allowing another run. Hagen earned the win to improve his season record to 5-3, allowing four runs off of six hits during nearly six innings on the mound.
Wooster played two non-conference games after press time. They took on John Carroll University on Tuesday and played against Heidelberg University on Wednesday. This weekend they will play three games at home against Ohio Wesleyan University.