BEREA, Ohio – The 18th-ranked Baldwin Wallace University baseball team dropped a pair of Ohio Athletic Conference games to the University of Mount Union on Fisher Field.
Mount Union (12-4, 4-0 OAC) outlasted BW (15-6, 1-3 OAC) by taking game one 5-3 in 10 innings and followed it up with a 4-1 win in the second game.
The first game started out as a classic pitchers' duel featuring both senior American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-Mideast Region and All-OAC pitcher Evan Lovick and junior All-American pitcher Phil Mary. Neither hurler allowed a single hit until the bottom of the fourth inning when senior outfielder Chase Knodle (Poland/Seminary) homered to center field to give BW a 1-0 lead. The Yellow Jackets would add another run in the bottom of the sixth when Knodle scored on a double play.
Meanwhile, Lovick just kept dealing and took a no-hitter into the top of the seventh until the Purple Raiders finally broke through and plated two runs. Junior right-handed pitcher Danny Cody (Medina/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) threw in relief of Lovick but allowed a pinch-hit solo home run in the top of the ninth inning as Mount Union took its first lead of the day at 3-2. Needing to make a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, sophomore outfielder Dudley Taw (Sheffield Lake/Brookside) led off the inning with his fifth home run of the season and tied the game at 3-3. BW had the opportunity for the walk-off as sophomore infielder Jacob Bonner (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) got stranded at second base after a double to left center, sending the game into extra innings. A two-run single for the Purple Raiders in the top of the 10th proved to be too much to overcome as BW went down in order in the bottom half of the inning.
Taw was the lone Yellow Jacket to record two hits in the first game, including his game-tying solo shot, while Knodle was responsible for two of the Yellow Jackets' three runs in the game.
Lovick threw seven solid innings, giving up just two earned runs on two hits and two walks and recording six strikeouts. Cody suffered the loss, giving up three earned runs on four hits in three innings of relief.
Channeling the energy from the late-game, extra inning heroics in game one, Mount Union jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning and would add another run in the second. BW trailed 3-0 until the bottom of the fourth inning when Taw led off with a double to right field, stole third during the next at-bat and then came home on a throwing error by the catcher. The Purple Raiders scored one more run in the seventh as the Yellow Jackets struggled to figure out the pitching staff, only pounding out five hits in the game.
Junior first baseman Philip Wells (Buffalo, N.Y./St. Joseph's Collegiate) had two hits and a walk in the second game in his four plate appearances.
After relieving Lovick in the first game, Cody still got the nod in game two and was tagged with the loss as he only went one inning, giving up two earned runs on two hits and three walks. Junior left-handed pitcher Jack Raines (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) threw seven innings in relief, giving up two earned runs on eight hits and one walk while punching out eight batters, while sophomore left-hander Michael Hubert (Cincinnati/Oak Hills) pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
BW will look to bounce back when the Yellow Jackets travel to Adrian, Michigan, for a single non-conference game with Adrian (Mich.) College on Wednesday, April 4, at 4 p.m. on Nicolay Field.
