DOVER, Del. – DJ Keckler earned a complete game victory in the season opener to highlight the Wesley College baseball team's doubleheader sweep over Penn State-Harrisburg. The Wolverines defeated the Lions, 6-1 in game one and 13-4 in game two.
Keckler allowed just an earned run over seven innings on three hits while fanning four Lions to earn his first win of the year. The senior recorded 1-2-3 innings in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings of play.
Wesley took the lead in the third inning with a pair of runs on sacrifice flies by Steve Perone and Geoff Kimmel, scoring Jon Carlson and Sam Farnell.
The Wolverines would tack on another in the fourth with an RBI single by Matt Robles and three more in the sixth. Carlson drove in the first run in the sixth with a single while Kimmel drove in Carlson and Benedict with another single.
Kimmel went 1-2 with three RBIs to lead the Navy & White offensively in the opener. Carlson and Morgan Rupp both recorded a pair of hits and scored two runs each. Carlson also stole a pair of bases.
After falling behind 1-0 after the first inning in game two, Wesley was quick to respond with five runs in the second and three in the third to help out starting pitcher Jordan Lozzi.
Kimmel started the second-inning rally with a single and Bryan Reshetar was then hit by a pitch. A single by Rupp loaded the bases and Casey Rothwell singled to score Kimmel and Reshetar. Robles then drew a free pass to load the bases and Rob Benedict drove Rupp in with a fly ball to left. Carlson and Farnell then walked back-to-back to bring in another run before Perone's sacrifice fly to left ended the scoring.
Carlson started the scoring once again in the third by drawing a bases loaded walk before Sam Farnell's rip off the shortstops glove drove in Benedict and Rothwell.
PSU-H got three runs back in the fourth but once again Wesley went right back on the offensive with four runs in its half of the frame. Reshetar and Rupp recorded back-to-back one-out singles and after Rothwell drew a walk, Robles singled to drive in Reshetar and an error allowed Rupp to score as well. Another single by Benedict scored Rothwell and Perone reached on an error allowing Benedict to score.
Benedict singled home another run in the fifth to end the scoring.
Lozzi earned the victory in game two while allowing just four runs on two hits while striking out a pair in five innings. Rich Lober allowed just a hit and struck out one in the sixth while Mark Mattern struck out the side in the seventh to complete the sweep.
Benedict went 2-3 with two runs and three RBIs in game two while Rupp recorded three hits and scored three runs. Reshetar and Rothwell also scored three runs in the second game.
In the two games, Wesley hit .373, paced by Carlson (3-4, two runs, 2 RBIs) and Rupp (5-7, five runs). Rupp recorded also recorded the only extra-base hit for Wesley on the day with a triple in game one while Benedict and Kimmel both drove in three. Robles and Perone also had a pair of RBIs on the day.
Wesley is back home tomorrow when it hosts Albright College in a 12 pm doubleheader.