PORTSMOUTH, OHIO -- A five-run fifth inning vaulted the Baldwin Wallace University baseball team to a 7-3 win today (Sunday, February 24, 2013) and a series sweep of NAIA foe Shawnee State University in the second game of a doubleheader at Branch Rickey Park in Portsmouth, Ohio. The Yellow Jackets won the first game of the day, 7-6, and improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2008 and the first time under third-year head coach Brian Harrison.
The three-game series sweep drops Shawnee State to 6-8.
Shawnee State held BW scoreless through the first four innings, but the Yellow Jackets grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth. Sophomore second-team All-Ohio Athletic Conference second baseman Zach Ferster (Olmsted Falls) led off the inning with a single before stealing second and third base, and later scored on a dropped third strike. Freshman center fielder John Taylor (Stow/ Hudson) then drew a two-out walk, stole second, and would score on a wild pitch.
The Bears scored all three of their runs in the bottom half of the fifth, keyed by a run batted-in double to right field by Tyler Bice and a sacrifice fly by Todd Queener.
A triple by sophomore right fielder Alex Green (Pickerington/ North), single by Ferster, double by junior Academic All-American and second-team All-OAC left fielder Brendan Toughey (East Amherst, N.Y./ St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute), and single by freshman third baseman Mark Zimmerman (Akron/ Green) each drove in runs as the Yellow Jackets exploded for five tallies in the sixth.
Sophomore right-hander Anthony Alioto (Mayfield Heights/ Mayfield) took the mound in relief of starting junior right-hander Cory Waite (Willoughby/ South) in the bottom of the sixth and retired 12 of the 15 batters he faced to secure the win.
At the plate, the Yellow Jackets were led by Ferster, who went 2-for-4 with one RBI, one run scored and a pair of stolen bases. Zimmerman went 1-for-3 with two walks and two RBI.
Waite pitched the first 5.0 innings, surrendering three runs (all earned) on four hits while striking out three batters, and worked to a no decision. Alioto scattered three hits and fanned one to earn his first win of the season.
The Yellow Jackets next play a three-game series against Wabash (Ind.) College in Nashville, Tennessee next Saturday-Sunday, March 2-3. The following weekend, March 10-16, BW travels to Port Charlotte, Florida for its annual Spring Break Trip.
A year ago, the Yellow Jackets won a school-record 27 games and had a 27-13 overall record.
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 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.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
** Photo Courtesy of Larry Pantages
