BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's lacrosse team defeated Wilmington College 18-7 in an Ohio Athletic Conference game on Tressel Field inside George Finnie Stadium. With the victory BW earns its first-ever men's lacrosse Co-OAC regular season title.
At the end of regular season, BW (14-2, 6-1 OAC) and John Carroll University sit atop of the OAC standings with conference records of 5-1. The Blue Streaks earned the No.1 seed and BW will be the No.2 seedin next week's OAC tourney.
Now to the victory that clinched the first-ever title. The Yellow Jackets were led by sophomore midfielder Jack Gerlack (Rocky River) and freshman attack Blake Bower (Lewis Center / Olentangy) who each recorded their first career hat tricks. Along with Gerlack and Bower, sophomore attack Brock Riemenschneider scored two goals and added two assists for a team-high four points.
Wilmington (6-8, 2-5 OAC) was led by, junior attack Reid Delaney who scored a team-high two goals and two assists for four points.
In the first half BW outscored the Quakers 11-0. Sophomore attack Alex Binner (East Amhers, N.Y. / Williamsville North), junior midfielder Jarrod Gilliam (Lewis Center / Olentangy Orange), and Gerlack each scored two goals in the first half of play.
In the third quarter the Yellow Jackets outscored Wilmington 3-1 to make the score 14-1. Freshman midfielder Judson Huston (Delaware / Rutherford B. Hayes), Gerlack, and Riemenschneider scored the three goals for BW.
The Quakers outscored the Yellow Jackets 5-4 in the fourth quarter, but BW held on for the victory. Bower scored all three of his goal in the fourth and freshman midfielder Jon Mays (East Amherst, N.Y. / Williamsville East) scored the other goal.
All-OAC sophomore goalkeeper Mike Dizonno (Buffalo Grove, Ill. / Adlai E. Stevenson) picked up his 14th win of the season.
BW, the two seed, begins postseason play on Wednesday, May 4 when they host the third seed Otterbein University for an OAC Tournament semifinal game on Tressel Field inside George Finnie Stadium at 7 p.m. The winners of the two semifinal games will play in the championship game on Saturday, May 7 on the campus of the highest remaining seed.
