DOVER, Del. – The Wesley College baseball team split a pair of Capital Athletic Conference games with St. Mary's on Sunday afternoon at Bob Reed Field. Winning the opener, 7-3, before coming up just short, 11-10 in the nightcap, the Wolverines remain at .500 with a 4-4 record while the Seahawks move to 6-5 overall and a 2-2 mark in the CAC.
Sophomore Trevor Mears came up big in the doubleheader, going 5-for-9 with a team-high four runs scored, two doubles and two stolen bases. He along with Matt Domian and Conner Gobright all had three RBIs apiece as well. Eric Speidel, Connor Springsteen and Cory Smith all had three hits each.
Zach Stuart earned the victory on the mound in game one, allowing just three runs on seven hits while striking out four in seven innings. Andrew Cooper continued his strong season in relief, pitching a pair of scoreless innings to seal the victory for Wesley.
St. Mary's took a 2-0 lead in the opener in the top of the fifth but the Wolverines tied it up in their half of the frame. Domian and Adam Darling drew back-to-back walks to start the inning and after a Stan Zulkowski single, Domian cut the deficit in half by scoring on a wild pitch. Tyler Hunter then hit a deep fly ball to right field which allowed Darling to score from third.
Wesley got another two runs in the fifth on RBI hits by Mears and Domian. Speidel led off with a single and advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch before Mears doubled off the wall in left field to put the Wolverines on top. Mears then stole third and scored on a single through the left side by Domian.
A RBI single by Seahawks' Luke Green got one run back to cut Wesley's lead to 4-3, but Speidel, Mears and Domian all had RBIs for the Wolverines in the seventh to extend the lead to 7-3.
Four runs in the bottom of the first and another run in the fourth gave Eric Willey and Wesley a 5-0 lead but that was short lived as St. Mary's erupted for eight runs on six hits and an error in the fifth. The Seahawks got another three runs in the top of the ninth to go up 11-5 but Wesley would not go down without a fight.
Gobright and Domian both drove in runs with still nobody out in the ninth to score Smith and Speidel. With the bases still loaded with just one out, Zulkowski drove in Mears who had singled earlier in the inning, forcing St. Mary's to make a pitching change.
Connor Springsteen welcomed Alex Lenovitz with a RBI single which scored Gobright from third and kept the bases loaded with one out. Hunter was then retired but the pitch was wild and allowed Domian to score, cutting the deficit to 11-10 with two outs. Smith then drew a free pass to once again load the bases but Speidel flew out to deep center to end the game.
An old CAC rival, Stevenson, visits the Wolverines for a single game on Monday, March 10, at 2 pm.