BEREA, OHIO-- The Baldwin-Wallace College softball team swept an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader from host Wilmington College, 9-4 in 14 innings and 2-1, today (Thursday, April 29, 2010) in Wilmington as the Yellow Jackets ran their win streak to four games. In addition, a number of seasonal-records were set and B-W put itself in position of claiming its first OAC Postseason Tournament berth since 2004.
 
With its wins, the Yellow Jackets improve to 23-15 overall and 9-7 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and are in fourth place in the OAC Standings entering the final doubleheader of the season at fifth place Muskingum University (17-19 overall and 7-9 in the OAC) this Saturday, May 1 at 1:00 p.m. With its two losses, Wilmington is now 12-20 overall and 3-13 in the OAC and play at third place John Carroll University (23-15 overall and 10-6 in the OAC).

In terms of the OAC Tournament, the Yellow Jackets must win one game at Muskingum to guarantee itself a spot. If B-W wins twice at Muskingum and third place JCU splits, the final two spots (seeds three and four) would come down to who has the better record against the fifth place team and then down the standings. Right now, Muskingum is tied with Heidelberg University, Capital University and Marietta College for fifth place. On Saturday, Capital is at Heidelberg and Marietta hosts Otterbein College.  If B-W is swept by Muskingum, the Jackets would be tied with at least the Fighting Muskies for the fourth spot and a whole new set of senarios would take place.

In the first game, B-W took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning only to have Wilmington tie it at 2-2 with a pair of runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning. B-W regained the lead at 4-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh frame only to have the Quakers again tie the game at 4-4 with two in the bottom of the seventh.

In the 14th inning, B-W broke the game open as sophomore pitcher Sarah Baker (Mentor/ Lake Catholic) led off with a single and moved to second on a bunt single by junior first baseman Katrina Resek (Strongsville). Baker was then replaced by pinch runner Kim Parkinson (Stow/ Stow-Munroe Falls), who scored the eventual winning run when the Quaker shortstop misplayed a sacrifice bunt by sophomore 2B Katie Finley (Vermilion).  A single by sophomore centerfielder Meredith Fogg (Sandusky/ Senior) then plated Resek and Finley for a 7-4 lead. The final two runs scored on a two-run single by junior All-OAC and All-Central Region catcher Tanya Davis (Hinckley/ Medina Highland).

On the mound, Baker pitched all 14 innings for her school-record 19th victory and is now 19-9 overall with 20 complete games to rank second all-time in a single season.  She allowed 13 base hits and four runs (three earned) and struck one Quaker batter and walked four others.
 
At the plate, senior LF Chelsea Saunders (Medina/ Highland) had a school single-game record six hits in eight at-bats with two runs scored, a stolen base and an RBI. Baker helped her own cause by going 4-for-7 with an RBI and Davis, Finley and Fogg each had a pair of hits. Senior SS Mallory Kobak (Independence) scored three runs and stole a pair of bases to break her own school single-season mark and now has 36.
 
In game two, the Yellow Jackets gained a 1-0 lead with a run in the top of the first inning as Saunders singled with one out, advanced to second base on a Davis single and scored when senior 3B Megan Coyne (Valley City/ LaGrange Keystone) had a base hit. The lead grew to 2-0 in the fourth inning as Finley reached on an error to lead off the frame, moved to second via a sacrifice bunt, to third base following a fly out to RF and scored on Saunders' second hit of the game. The Quakers closed to 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning, and the game ended when B-W threw out the potential tying run at third base.

On the mound, junior Mackenzie Rohrbacher (Sandusky/ Senior) pitched a complete-game eight-hitter and allowed one run to improve her mark to 4-5 overall. She struck out five Quakers and walked just one.

At the plate, Saunders and Davis each finished 2-for-4 with Saunders scoring once and driving in another run.
 
The 2010 OAC Tournament begins on Friday, May 7 at top-seeded Ohio Northern University (34-2 overall, 16-0 OAC) in Ada, Ohio.  ONU and second place Mt. Union College (24-12 overall, 12-4 OAC) have already wrapped up the No.1 and No.2 seeds, respectively, in the double-elimination event. The OAC Championship game is on Saturday, May 8.

 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 Nick Minerd by phone at 440-826-2780 and e-mail at nminerd@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.