PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The Baldwin Wallace University baseball team swept Nichols (Mass.) College, 10-1 and 8-1, in a doubleheader on the sixth day of competition at the annual SnowBird Classic. The Yellow Jackets, 6-4 overall, play two more games tomorrow on the final day of their seven-day trip to the Sunshine State.
In the first game, the Yellow Jackets held the Bison scoreless for the first six innings and tallied seven runs in the seventh inning to help top Nichols (Mass.) College in the morning game.
At the plate, the Yellow Jacket offense was led by senior catcher Joe Hiller (Twinsburg) who batted 3-for-3 with a run and three runs batted in. Also for BW, junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference first baseman Kyle Chontos (Pickerington/North) and sophomores Jerry Scholle (Hinckley/Medina Highland) and John Taylor (Stow/Hudson) each contributed two hits to the Yellow Jacket offense, while Taylor had two runs batted in. BW base runners stole five bases in the game.
On the mound, freshman right-hander Logan Heffernan (Lebanon) and senior right-hander Cory Waite (Willoughby/Willoughby South) combined to throw six shutout innings and gave up five hits on one walk and one strikeout. Junior right-hander Luke Ackerman (Sheffield Village/Brookside) came into the game in the seventh inning to secure the victory for the Yellow Jackets.
In the second game, Baldwin Wallace capped off its sweep of the Bison with the help of another shut out through six innings of play and great hitting.
At the plate, junior outfielder Zach Ferster (Olmsted Falls) and John Taylor each went 2-for-3 for the Yellow Jackets to lead the BW offense. In addition to Ferster and Taylor, seven other Yellow Jacket batters had hits and five BW base runners stole bases.
On the mound, junior right-hander Brian Taricska (Bay Village/Bay) started for the Yellow Jackets, pitched six innings, struck out 11 batters, gave up four hits and allowed no walks. In relief for Taricska, sophomore right-hander Connor Murphy (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) closed out the game to give BW its second win on the day with only one hit and one unearned run.
BW is back in action on Saturday, March 15 when they play a doubleheader against Webster (Mo.) University and Farmingdale State (N.Y.) College. The first game begins at 10:00 a.m. with the second game to follow. Fans can follow tomorrow's action weather permitting via live stats at http://livestats.prestosports.com/baldwinwallace/. To obtain more information on the SnowBird Classic, please visit http://snowbirdbaseball.info.
FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.BWYellowJackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
