By: Athletic Communications Student Intern Joe Huff '21
MARIETTA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's lacrosse team cruised past Marietta University by a final score of 14-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and regular season finale inside Don Drumm Stadium.
With the win, BW (12-1, 9-0 OAC) finishes as the regular season OAC champion. The Yellow Jackets had a record setting season as they set the program record for best home record in a season at 7-0, best OAC record, most OAC wins, and goalkeeper save percentage with 63.2%.
Freshman attacker Zakary Kroeger (Cincinnati/Archbishop Moeller) scored a game high six goals. Freshman attacker Gunner MacMillan (Henrietta, N.Y./ Rush Henrietta) added three goals and two assists for five points. Freshman midfielder Trevor Stevens (Buffalo, N.Y./Lancaster) chipped in two goals.
Freshman midfielder Zach Radcliffe led Marietta (4-9, 3-6 OAC) with two goals and one assist.
MacMillan was the first to find the back of the net with 10:21 remaining. The Yellow Jacket added another two goals with Stevens and MacMillan each scoring. The Pioneers got their first goal of the day by Radcliffe with 3:29 left in the first to trim the BW lead to 3-1. Before the horn sounded, the Yellow Jackets added two more goals from Kroeger to end the quarter with a 5-1 lead.
The second quarter was all BW. The Yellow Jackets defense held Marietta scoreless while the attack rattled off five goals. Freshman attacker Jake Nanosky (Medina) got the scoring underway with 12:47 remaining. Less than a minute later, Kroeger secured a hat trick when he found the back of the cage. Keeping the pressure on, Stevens rifled one past the keeper for the second time. Before the end of the period, Kroeger added one more goal and Hunter Boehm (Delaware/Olentangy) got on the board with his first goal. BW carried a 10-1 lead into halftime.
The Yellow Jackets defense kept the same intensity once again holding the Pioneers scoreless. The attack added an additional two goals to carry a 12-1 lead into the fourth quarter. Kroeger scored his fifth goal of the day with 6:53 remaining in the quarter. Sophomore attacker Kyler Byerly (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) finished off the scoring when he ripped one past the keeper with 3:54 remaining in the quarter.
Marietta was able to get their attack going in the fourth, starting the final stanza on a 2-0 run. The run was capped off by Freshman attacker Chase Franklin with 6:06 remaining in the game. The BW attack ended the run when Kroeger found the back of the net one last time. The Pioneers once again trimmed into the Yellow Jackets lead with Radcliffe scoring his second of the day. BW ended the scoring in the game, with MacMillan getting the hat trick to give the Yellow Jackets a 14-4 victory.
In the cage, sophomore goalkeeper Joe Storner (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) recorded 10 saves on the 11 shots he faced in one half of action. Senior goalkeeper Trent Davis (Ottawa Hills) finished with nine saves on the 12 shots he faced in one half of action.
BW secures the No. 1 seed in the 2021 OAC Tournament and will host an OAC semifinal game on Thursday, May 6 at 7 p.m. on the Lou Groza Field at the Roehm Athletic Complex.
