MARIETTA, Ohio — Baldwin Wallace University advanced to the championship game of the 2022 Ohio Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament with a 13-5 victory over the University of Mount Union Friday (May 13) evening. The No. 3 seed Yellow Jackets will need to beat top-seeded Marietta College twice on Saturday to earn the OAC Championship.
"We're in great shape for tomorrow," Harrison said. "We still have lots of great pitching left and have some tough kids that can still throw tomorrow. The toughest, most resilient team always has a chance to win. Tomorrow is no different."
Baldwin Wallace improves to 32-10 on the season, while Mount Union finishes their season with a 23-19 overall record.
The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Mount Union dropped a fly ball in left field that led to a pair of unearned runs for Baldwin Wallace.
Lightning caused the game to be delayed after the end of the second inning. Play resumed in a light rain following a one hour and fifty-minute delay.
"The delay didn't bother us. We have a tight knit group that cares a lot about each other," Baldwin Wallace head coach Brian Harrison said. "We got on the bus, and we just kept it light and joked around."
When play resumed, Mount Union plated a run in the top of the third inning cutting the BW lead in half. Jaired Lehman led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. A base hit bunt from Andrew Witte moved Lehman to third.
Yellow Jacket starting pitcher Clay Anderson nearly got out of the inning unscathed when Witte was thrown out stealing second and Zack Mazza popped out to the shortstop. But Nate Duliba delivered a two-out single scoring Lehman.
Baldwin Wallace answered with four runs in the bottom of the third and three more in the fourth to take control of the game. The Yellow Jackets would go on to score 11 total runs in the middle four innings.
Ryan Guggenheim smacked a three-run home run to left and Vincent Capolupo had a solo shot over the wall in right center to put the game out of reach.
BW used five pitchers in the game. Matt Sabin (5-0) threw the last three innings to get the win. He gave up no runs on one hit and struck out one. Anderson worked three innings and allowed one run on four hits.
Thomas Gallant (7-3) started on the mound for Mount Union and took the loss. He was charged with eight runs, five earned, on seven hits in three innings. Gallant walked three and struck out four.
Guggenheim went 4-for-4 with one double, a home run, three runs scored and five RBI. Luke Vonderhaar was 3-for-3 with a double and four runs scored, while Alex Ludwick finished with a pair of singles.
Duliba and Witte had two hits each for the Purple Raiders. Duliba also drove in two runs.
