BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's lacrosse team defeated Heidelberg University 25-4 for an Ohio Athletic Conference and Seniors' Day victory inside George Finnie Stadium.
The two-time reigning OAC Offensive Player of the week, senior three-time All-OAC attack Chad Steinwachs (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville North), led the Yellow Jackets (12-2, 6-1 OAC) with four goals and seven assists for 11 points. Both junior All-OAC midfielder Ben Kubiak (Wooster) and senior attack Blake Bower (Lewis Center/Olentangy) tallied five points – Kubiak with four goals and one assist and Bower with a hat trick plus two assists. Senior midfielder Thomas Moesch (Ithaca, N.Y.) also netted a career-high three goals while junior midfielder Austin Routzong (Hilliard/Bradley) posted career bests across the board with two goals and two assists for four points.
In the net, sophomore goalkeeper Trent Davis (Ottawa Hills) picked up his seventh consecutive win while senior Academic All-OAC goalkeeper Nate Karatas (Penfield, N.Y.) recorded a clean second half of action with eight saves.
Junior midfielder Hunter Edwards was the lone Student Prince (5-10, 2-5 OAC) to record multiple goals with a pair of scores.
Before the opening faceoff, BW took the time to recognize the team's 11 seniors – Bower, Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association defender Brian Jandzinski (Lancaster, N.Y./Central), Karatas, two-time All-OAC midfielder Cole McClary (Perrysburg), Moesch, midfielder Jake Mostyn (Columbus/Westerville Central), two-time All-OAC attack Mike Nanosky (Medina), attack Ethan Napieralski (Lancaster, N.Y.), defender Liam Oberst (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton), Steinwachs and defender Jacob Swank (Hilliard/Woodgrove).
BW made the most of its scoring opportunities early, finding the back of the net three separate times less than two minutes into play. Although the pace slowed down, the Yellow Jacket offense continued to click and added five additional goals, including a pair from Bower, to build up to an 8-0 lead. Heidelberg finally got on the scoreboard with 3:39 on the clock while the rest of the period passed scorelessly.
Junior attack Drew Braden (Wooster) got the second period started with a man-up goal before the Student Princes answered with a pair of scores themselves, trimming the BW lead down to 9-3. However, the Yellow Jackets began a methodical 5-0 run across five minutes of action that was highlighted by a trio of scores from Steinwachs. Each team added another goal before heading into the locker room with a 15-4 score in favor of BW.
Both teams' defenses stole the show to begin the second half as neither team could find the back of the net. Moesch finally broke through the stalemate at the 8:18 mark while Kubiak followed with his own personal hat trick in the period.
The Yellow Jacket defense remained stout, holding Heidelberg scoreless for the entire second half. In the fourth quarter, BW added six more goals for the 25-4 final as six different players got involved in the offense.
BW travels down to Alliance on Wednesday, April 24, to take on the University of Mount Union in OAC action at 7 p.m. inside Mount Union Stadium.
