COLUMBUS, OH - After spliting the opening day against ODU, the Kentucky Wesleyan Baseball team closed out their trip to Ohio with two wins over their rival Panthers. Wesleyan hung on to win 6-5 in the opener before winning 16-3 in a lopsided game two.
KWC moves to 11-19 (9-7 G-MAC) while ODU falls to 9-17 (3-9 G-MAC).
Game One
Ben Wilcoxson took advantage of a throwing error on the third baseman to score the game's opening run in the first inning.
Down 3-1 in the third,
Hunter Combs hit an RBI double to right center to score
Reece Puckett and cut the ODU lead in half.
Thanks to an RBI from Puckett and fielding errors, Kentucky Wesleyan went up 4-3 in the top of the fourth. Wilcoxson then hit a 2 RBI single up the middle to add two more important runs and make it a 6-3 ball game.
Ohio Dominican failed to record a hit over the final three innings and KWC went on to win by one run.
Ben Wilcoxson went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI's and a run scored, while Reece Pucket went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Austin Baugh started and struck out three in 3.2 innings of work.
Rylan Thomas (3-3) came in and didn't allow a hit in 2.1 innings to get the win, while
Ike Speiser (S, 3) threw just eight pitches in the final inning to get the save.
Game Two
KWC put up 19 hits and scored in every inning except for the first in a 16-3 route in game two.
After a
Sammy Rowan triple in the second inning scored
Cade Gudalis and
Kyle Werries, the floodgates were opened. Wesleyan had four innings of two or more runs and the KWC pitching staff held ODU to just two hits in the game.
Kyle Werries was dominant, going 4-for-6 with four RBI's and two runs scored.
Hunter Combs also put up big numbers, going 4-for-7 with two RBI's and a run scored. Combs and Werries hit KWC's only home runs of the game. Not to be outdone,
Sammy Rowan went 3-for-5 with three RBI's and two runs scored.
Coy Burns (2-0) was almost untouchable, striking out 7 and allowing just 1 hit in 6.1 innings of work.
After starting the year off 0-14, the Panthers have now won 11 of their past 16 games and sit at fourth in the G-MAC standings.
The boys will take a little bit of a break, as their next game isn't until Tuesday, April 12th when they travel to Indianapolis to face the Greyhounds in a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 12 p.m. CT.
Stay up to date on all your Panther news by following @KWCpanthers on Twitter and Instagram, and by liking the "Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics" Facebook page.
