DOVER, Del. – Rob Benedict stole his 100th career base and sophomore Zach Stuart was dominant on the hill as the Wesley College baseball team shutout Gwynedd-Mercy, 6-0, on Tuesday afternoon at Bob Reed Field. The Wolverines improve to 29-14 on the year while the Griffins fall to 23-17.
Needing just two stolen bases to reach 100, Benedict swiped three bags on the day and reached the century mark when he stole second base in the bottom of the seventh. He also stole third on the very next pitch and now has 101 career steals.
Stuart pitched seven shutout innings while allowing just three hits and struck out three. At one point he retired 12 straight batters.
Wesley got on the board early with three runs in the first and another in the second. Benedict led off the bottom of the first with a double and advanced to third on a wild pitch before Jon Carlson scored him with a single up the middle. Morgan Rupp was then hit by a pitch to put two runners on for Geoff Kimmel who singled in Carlson. Rupp later scored on Steve Perone's single to right field.
A sacrifice fly by Carlson in the second inning gave the Wolverines a four-run lead. Scoring on the play was Matt Robles, who was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a Benedict single and stole third.
RBI singles by Kimmel and Carlson in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively, extended Wesley's lead to 6-0 and that prompted head coach Bret Underwood to end Stuart's day. Andrew Cooper and Jordan Lozzi pitched the final two innings while allowing just one hit each.
Carlson finished the day 3-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBIs while Kimmel drove in a pair on two hits. Benedict and Perone also had a pair of hits on the day.
The Wolverines close out the regular season on Monday, May 7, when they host Methodist University in a 4 pm start. With a victory against the Monarchs, Wesley will match its single-season record for wins.