FLORENCE, Ky. – Opening up the 2018 season on Sunday, the Baldwin Wallace University baseball team swept Anderson (Ind.) University in non-conference action at the UC Health Stadium, home of the Florence Freedom.
BW (2-0) won the first game in a 1-0 nail biter while taking game two by a final score of 7-2.
In game one, the Yellow Jackets scored their only run in the bottom of the fourth inning when sophomore infielder Jacob Bonner (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) walked and then advanced to second on a single by freshman utility player Alex Ludwick (Brunswick/Padua Franciscan). Sophomore outfielder Dudley Taw (Sheffield Lake/Brookside) brought Bonner home with an RBI single to right field, proving to be the only run the Yellow Jackets needed for victory.
Ludwick, Taw and senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference catcher Trent Kaltenbach (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) led BW at the plate with one hit apiece. Ludwick and Kaltenbach each got on base once more via the walk as well.
Senior American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-Great Lakes Region and All-OAC pitcher Evan Lovick (Mentor) earned the nod in the season-opening game and threw five scoreless innings, giving up six hits and striking out seven batters. Junior left-handed pitcher Jack Raines (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) came in relief of Lovick and held on to the shutout by only allowing one hit and one walk in four innings, earning the save.
Anderson (0-2) got on the scoreboard first in the second game, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, and would hold on to that lead until the top of the fourth. Senior All-OAC right fielder Alex Marcum (Granville) roped a single into left field and then proceeded to steal second before a Bonner double brought him home and the game to a 1-1 tie. The Yellow Jackets took a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth but the Ravens countered in their half of the inning, tying the game at 2-2, before BW erupted for three runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to cruise along to the win.
Marcum led the way offensively in the second game, going 3-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and three runs scored. Senior outfielder Chase Knodle (Poland/Seminary) went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Getting the start was junior right-handed pitcher Danny Cody (Medina/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) as he went five innings, giving up four hits and one earned run with nine strikeouts. However, it was freshman infielder/pitcher Nick Smith (Mentor) who notched the win in relief in his first collegiate appearance. The freshman threw two innings while giving up three hits and one earned run. Sophomore lefty Michael Hubert (Cincinnati/Oak Hills) pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth, striking out three and walking only one.
BW will be back on the road on Saturday, February 24, for a non-conference doubleheader with Oberlin College at 1 and 4 p.m. on Dill Field.
