BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College baseball team defeated non-league foe Oberlin College, 9-1, this afternoon (Thursday, April 22, 2010) at Heritage Field in Berea.
With its win, B-W improves to 9-18 overall and is back in action this Saturday, April 24 when it hosts Ohio Athletic Conference rival Wilmington College in a doubleheader. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. With its loss, Oberlin falls to 17-15 overall.
The Yellow Jackets opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning when freshman centerfielder Nolan Neuschaefer (Elyria/ Senior) led off with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly by senior second basemanMatt Rollins (Walbridge/ Millbury Lake). The run batted-in was the 28th this season for Rollins.
B-W increased its lead to 2-0 in the second frame as junior catcher John Ulanski (Bay Village/ Bay) led off with a triple and scored one out later when freshman LF Brendan Toughey (East Amherst, N.Y./ St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute) singled up the middle.
After Oberlin scored once in the top of the third to cut the lead to 2-1, B-W struck back for a pair of runs after there were two outs to lead 4-1. Senior 1B Chris Nealon (Avon Lake) started the two-out rally with a single, moved to second base when his twin brother, senior designated hitter Scott Nealon (Avon Lake) singled.Chris Nealon then scored when Ulanski singled to rightfield. Then when the rightfielder threw home, Scott Nealon advanced to third and Ulanski to second. When the catcher tried to throw out Ulanski at second base and his throw went into centerfield for an error, Scott Nealon scored.
The lead grew to 5-1 in the fifth on another two-out rally when Ulanski doubled to rightfield and senior RF Ted Cowling (Streetsboro) doubled.
B-W increased its lead to 8-1 in the sixth with three runs as Neuschaefer led off with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Rollins single. Rollins, who advanced to second when Oberlin tried to throw out Neuschaefer, then scored when senior 3B Jim Martin (Euclid) doubled. After advancing to third via a wild pitch, Martin scored when the Yeomen mishandled a ground ball.
The Yellow Jackets scored their final run in the eighth and again there were two outs. Martin walked, moved to second when Ulanski walked and to third via another Yeomen wild pitch and scored when Cowling singled through the right side
On the mound, freshman Pat Havens (Twinsburg) started and pitched an eight-hit complete game, allowed one run (earned), struck out six Oberlin batters and walked none. He improved to 1-2 and won the first game of his collegiate career.
At the plate, Neuschaefer and Ulanski led a 16-hit attack with three each. Neuschaefer was 3-for-5 with the triple and two runs scored. Ulanski was 3-for-four with a double, triple, two runs scored and an RBI. In addition, Rollins, Chris Nealon, Cowling and Toughey each had a pair of base hits.
Following Saturday's twinbill at Wilmington, BW is at OAC rival Otterbein College next Tuesday, April 27 for a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader before returning home to play its final five regular season games at Heritage Field in Berea.
FOR MORE B-W 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 Nick Minerd by phone at 440-826-2780 and e-mail at nminerd@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
