By Jim Dixon
D3baseball.com
Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Baldwin Wallace opened an early lead in the first and cruised to a 13-8 win in the bracket one elimination game finale in the 2023 D-III World Series on PG Cares Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Yellow Jackets advance to a rematch with Johns Hopkins in the first of the bracket championship games scheduled on Monday.
We just answered the bell," said Baldwin Wallace head coach Brian Harrison. "It was incredible . We just had a couple pitchers that did well for us and we held on for a win."
"Giving up the opening kickoff for a touchdown is tough to recover from" said Misericordia head coach Pete Egbert. "I though our kids deserve a lot of credit. Competing their tail off. We were back in the ball game but we did not get the breaks."
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| Andrew Parker hit his third home run of the D-III World Series in a seven-run first inning. Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com | More photos from this game |
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The early lead held up for the Yellow Jackets as Misericordia crept closer inning by inning. A three-run fifth gave Baldwin Wallace the insurance they needed as they finally solved the Cougars offense starting in the sixth inning.
"It was incredible," said Harrison. We learned not to sit back. Our guys were always putting on he gas. Capalupo had a big hit in the fifth."
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Baldwin Wallace erupted for seven runs in the top of the first inning. Three walks filled the sacs for Alexis Castillo who delivered the first two runs for the Yellow Jackets. Dennis Guggenheim followed with an RBI single, bringing up Andrew Parker. True to his name, he parked the ball over the rightfield fence to bring the early advantage to 6-0. Baldwin Wallace was not done yet. Matt Terzda singled, stole second and scored on Vincent Capalupo's hit to left center.
Misericordia added a run in their half of the first. Garrett McIlhenney walked, stole second and third. On the steal of third, the catcher skipped the ball and McIlhenney hit home plate.
Both teams added single runs in the second. Castillo doubled and scored for the Yellow Jackets on Guggenhein's single. For the Cougars, Joe Comins scored on a Jason Sanfilippo single to right.
Misericordia continued to chip away at the Baldwin Wallace lead with a single run in the third and two in the fourth. Brock Bollinger scored on Comins second hit of the day in the third. Brendan Gray and Sanfilippo scored for the Cougars in the fourth on McIlhenney's double.
"It is not ideal to go down 7-nothing," said Sanfilippo. "We understood you cannot hit a seven run homer. The only thing to do is to just chip away and throw up some zeros and win every inning. We did so for a while and the game got away from us."
Baldwin Wallace doubled their lead with three more runs in the fifth. With the bases loaded, Parker plated the first run of the inning on a wild pitch. Capalupo followed with a single to center that added two more runs.
The Cougars again cut into the Baldwin Wallace lead with two in the fifth. Brendan Madden and Connor Maryniak joined the list of players who scored. Madden was brought home on a Gray single and Maryniak on a Jack Regenye safety.
Baldwdin Wallace added single runs in the seventh and eighth while Garrett Miller and Dawson Gabe kept the Cougars off the scoreboard to run the score to 13-7. Misericordia scored a run in the ninth but never threatened to take the lead.
"You cannot make a run here without guys just being bulldogs," said Harrison. "Dawson [Gabe] got hot. Garrett [Miller] has a blister and throwing 80 mph fastballs because he was hurting and sucked it up. Just a bulldog effort."
Baldwin Wallace will play on Monday against Johns Hopkins in the bracket one championship game game. If Baldwin Wallace wins, a second championship game will be scheduled later that day, Monday June 5. The Misericordia Cougars end their season 40-15.
The 40 wins is a Misericordia record for wins in a season.