BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College softball team swept an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader with rival Marietta College today (Saturday, April 11, 2009) at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds Field in Berea.
The Yellow Jackets won the first game, 3-1, and captured the nightcap, 8-3, and are now in first place in the OAC Standings and tied with Ohio Northern University. B-W hosts ONU on Monday in Berea for two games with the first one beginning at 3:30 p.m.
The wins improved the Yellow Jackets to 20-8 overall and 6-2 in the OAC and game them a 10-game winning streak. Marietta is now 20-8 overall and 7-3 in the OAC.
In the first game, The Yellow Jackets gained a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when freshman and winning pitcher Sarah Baker (Mentor/ Lake Catholic) doubled to open the inning. She moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a strike-three and passed ball with junior leadoff player Mallory Kobak (Independence) at the plate. BW made it 3-0 in the fourth when junior All-Central Region catcher Tanya Davis (Hinckley/ Medina Highland) opened the frame with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored another out later when junior third baseman Megan Coyne (Valley City/ Keystone LaGrange) had a double.Coyne scored one batter later when Baker singled her home. Marietta scored its lone unearned run in the top of the sixth inning.
Offensively, B-W had four base hits to outhit the Pioneers, 4-2. Baker had two hits to lead the way. On the mound, she was dominant as she allowed the two hits, an unearned run, struck out six and walked two Marietta hitters to improve to 10-4 overall and extend her streak to 27 innings without allowing an earned run.
In the second game, MC took an early 2-0 lead when BW committed four errors in the top of the first inning. The Yellow Jackets came back to take a 4-2 lead with a four-run second inning, highlighted by a two-run single by junior LF Chelsea Saunders (Medina/ Highland). B-W increased its lead to 6-2 with a pair of runs in the fourth with Saunders having a run-scoring base hit. Marietta closed to within 6-3 in the sixth, but the undaunted Yellow Jackets scored two runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame to earn the sweep.
Offensively, Saunders and Davis led the way with three hits each. Although Coyne batted four times in the game, she did not have an official at-bats but scored once and had two RBI. On the mound, Rohrbacherpitched the first five and one-third innings, allowed six hits and three runs (one earned), struck out four and walked three to improve to 9-4 overall. Baker came into the game in the sixth and gave up two hits and did not allow a run while striking out one to earn her first save of the season.
After 28 contests, Mallory Kobak leads the team with a .436 batting average (44-of-101) and an OAC-leading 29 stolen bases. Chelsea Saunders is second in hitting at .433 and is second in steals with eight in eight attempts. Tanya Davis is third in batting average at .432 and tops the team in runs scored with 32, doubles with 14 and is second in runs batted-in with 34. Caitlin Myor is hitting .396 with a team and OAC-leading nine home runs and 36 RBI. In addition, Myor has 118 career RBI and is five shy of Nicole Loudin's (2003-2006) school-record of 123. Myor's 28 career homers also are nine shy of a Loudin school-record of 37.
Sarah Baker leads the pitching staff with a 10-4 record and one save and has a 1.71 earned run average, has thrown four shutouts and is holding opponent hitters to a .215 batting average. She has also struck out 49 batters in 94 and one-third innings pitched. Rohrbacher is 9-4 with a 1.92 ERA and has struck out a team-leading 62 batters in 80 innings of work.
B-W will return to action on Monday, April 13 when it hosts OAC rival Ohio Northern University in a make-up doubleheader in Berea at 3:30 p.m. Then, the Jackets' travel to Meadville, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, April 14 for a non-league twinbill versus Allegheny College at 3:30 p.m. and travel to Westerville for an OAC doubleheader at Otterbein College on Wednesday, April 15 at 3:30 p.m.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at (440) 826-2327 and via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Nick Minerd by phone at (440) 826-2780 and via e-mail at nminerd@bw.edu. To contact Head Coach Tom Spencer, please call him at (440) 826-3988 in his office and e-mail him at tspencer@bw.edu. More information may be accessed on the B-W athletics page atwww.bw.edu/athletics.