DELAWARE, Ohio -- The 15th-ranked (March 22 D3baseball.com Division III national poll) Baldwin Wallace University baseball team dropped a nine-inning non-conference game to Ohio Wesleyan University, 8-4, at Littick Field.
BW (10-3) beat the Battling Bishops (7-4) by a 10-5 score earlier this spring on March 12 on its annual spring break trip to Port Charlotte, Florida
Ohio Weseyan gained a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning before BW scored twice to cut the deficit in half at 4-2. Senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference shortstop Eric Murphy (Brook Park/ Midpark) reached first base on a fielding error and went to third when freshman second baseman Spencer Badia (Bellaire) singled. Murphy scored when freshman catcher Trent Kaltenbach (Plain City/Kettering Alter) reached base on a throwing error and Badia went to third. Badia then scored on a ground out.
The Battling Bishops scored twice in the bottom of the second and once in the third to build a 7-2 lead. BW made it 7-3 in the top of the sixth when junior two-time All-OAC third baseman Mark Zimmerman (Akron/Green) singled. After an out, he moved to second on a wild pitch. After another out, he advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a third wild pitch.
The Yellow Jackets got closer in the eighth when Zimmerman reached on a two-base error and moved to third on a one-out single by Murphy and scored when Badia singled him home one batter later to make it 7-4. OWU scored its final run via an eighth inning home run.
At the plate, Badia and sophomore first baseman Cole Nieto (Brunswick/St. Ignatius) each had a pair of hits. Badia was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a run batted-in (RBI). Nieto was 2-for-5.
On the mound, sophomore transfer right-hander Mitch Kern (Parma/Normandy) made his second appearance of the spring, lasted one and two-third innings and was saddled with the loss and is 0-1 this season. He allowed four base hits, six runs (just two earned), struck out one OWU batter and walked another. He was followed by junior righty Connor Murphy (Wexford, Mass./Northeast) who pitched three and one-third innings, allowed four hits and one run (earned) and struck out one. Senior Chuck Jones (Kettering/Fairmont) pitched the next one and one-third innings, allowed two hits, no runs, struck out one and walked one. Junior staff "stopper" Brandon Cichocki (Walled Lake, Mich./Central) pitched one and two-third innings, allowed two hits and the homer and struck out two.
The Yellow Jackets return to action this Saturday, March 28 when BW hosts 22nd-ranked Marietta College in an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader at 1 p.m.
