BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin Wallace University baseball team rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but eventually fell to Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University, 7-6, today (Tuesday, April 2, 2013) in the first game of an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader at Heritage Field. BW had the tying run on third base and the winning run on second.
The loss drops BW 12-4 overall and 2-1 in the OAC. John Carroll improves to 13-6 overall and 2-1 in the OAC.
Trailing, 7-3, going into their last at-bat, senior All-Mideast Region and CAPITAL ONE Academic All-American left fielder Brendan Toughey (East Amherst, N.Y./ St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute), junior third baseman Brad Gugliotta (Twinsburg), and sophomore right fielder Alex Green (Pickerington/ North) connected for three consecutive singles, the last of which scored Toughey. After sophomore second-team All-Ohio Athletic Conference first baseman Kyle Chontos (Pickerington/North) draw a walk to load the bases, freshman designated hitter Mark Zimmerman (Akron/ Green) came to bat with two outs and reached base on an error, which scored two runs, but JCU forced BW into stranding the tying run on third base to end the game.
A two-out single in the top of the first inning by senior Aaron Miller plated two runs and gave the Blue Streaks an early 2-0 lead.
BW cut JCU's lead in half in the bottom of the first frame, as Green reached base on a fielder's choice, driving in Toughey, who led off the inning with a single, then advanced to third on a single by Gugliotta.
A pair of run batted-in singles by senior Connor Marrero and junior Mitchell Herringshaw in the second inning extended the Blue Streaks' lead to 4-1.
The Yellow Jackets again cut the deficit to 4-3 in the bottom of the second. Zimmerman led off the inning with a double, advanced to third base on a wild pitch, then scored on a two-out single by Toughey. Toughey moved to second on a passed ball, then scored on a RBI single by Gugliotta.
Sophomore David Lykens opened the fourth inning with a double and later scored on a wild pitch to extend JCU's lead to 5-3. The Blue Streaks tacked on another run in the fifth on a RBI single by sophomore Mark Huddle, scoring senior Ryan Konsler, who drew a one-out walk, and Marrero scored on a wild pitch in the sixth.
Despite the loss, Toughey went 3-for-4 at the plate with one RBI and three runs scored. Gugliotta was 3-for-3 with a walk, RBI and a run, and Zimmerman recorded two safeties in four trips to the plate with a run scored.
Junior right-hander Cory Waite (Willoughby/ South) made his fourth start of the season and pitched the first two innings, but suffered the loss to fall to 1-2. He allowed four runs (two earned) on four hits, struck out one batter, and walked one. Senior Academic All-OAC right-hander David Redovian (Fairlawn/ Copley) worked three and two-thirds innings of relief and allowed three runs (all earned) on four hits, fanned three and walked three. Junior right-hander Dylan Fodor (Twinsburg) recorded one out in the sixth inning, allowed one hit and struck out one. Freshman righty Matt Wittels (Lyndhurst/ Brush) pitched a flawless seventh inning and fanned one batter.
Following the second game of today's twinbill, BW plays at NCAA Division I the University of Dayton on Wednesday, April 3 and then faces the University of Mount Union on Saturday, April 6 in an OAC doubleheader at 1:00 p.m. in Alliance, Ohio.
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 B-W 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.
