WC salvages split with game two eruption at Baldwin-Wallace
Quakers beat BW, 13-8
05/02/09
Zach Butler homered and drove in three runs in Wilmington's 13-8 win over Baldwin-Wallace.
BEREA — Wilmington College erupted for 13 runs in the nightcap of an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader to end the 2009 season with a 13-8 win at Baldwin-Wallace Saturday afternoon. The Yellow Jackets won the opener, 14-2.
Wilmington ends the season at 5-13 in the OAC, 9-24 overall. Baldwin-Wallace closes the campaign at 8-10 in the conference, 19-19 overall.
After seeing a 2-0 lead disintegrate when BW scored 12 runs in the opener, the Quakers responded with their own metallic thunder in game two.
Down 3-0, the Quakers tied the game in the fourth on a three-run home run off the bat of Bruce Dunlap (Circleville/Logan Elm), the freshman’s eighth of the season.
Wilmington put five on the board in the fifth as Dan Roncolato (Meadville, Pa.) doubled in a pair, Dunlap scored two with a triple and Zach Butler (Beavercreek/Carroll) provided an RBI single.
The lead grew to 11-3 in the sixth on RBI singles from Austin Newman (Bethel/Bethel-Tate), Roncolato and Butler.
The Quakers plated an unearned run in the seventh and finished the scoring when Butler belted his first career homer in the eighth.
Zach Stakely (Pataskala/Licking Heights) went six innings to pick up the win, his fifth of the season in six decisions.
“That’s what we are capable of doing,” Wilmington head coach Tony Haley said. “Zach pitched a whale of a game. We hit the ball. We made defensive plays. We just had a little get together after getting our tails kicked in the opener. We knew we had to play. We knew we weren’t going to get run-ruled, so I told them they could either get embarrassed or play. They just came out played a great game.”
Dunlap paced Wilmington’s 17-hit attack with four knocks while Roncolato and Butler had three hits apiece. Dunlap drove in five runs while Roncolato and Butler contributed three RBI each.
The twinbill not only ended the season, but also dropped the curtain on the careers of Jason Iles (Fayetteville), Chris Lewis (Ostrander/Buckeye Valley), Stakely and Shawn Shelton (Mount Orab/Western Brown).
“Those four are going to be sorely missed,” Haley said. “Jason Iles is one of the better players to ever come through this program. It’s going to be a while before we have a center fielder like him. Shawn has been getting more playing time lately and has really produced. Zach has come a long way since his freshman year. He is just a tremendous kid. Chris is without a doubt the hardest-working kid I have ever coached. His work ethic has made him a good pitcher. We are going to miss those guys.”