BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University baseball team exploded for 27 runs in a non-conference sweep of Oberlin College in the 2018 home opener on Fisher Field. 

 

BW (4-0) won the first game by a score of 14-1 and then backed it up with a 13-1 win in game two. 

 

In the first game, the first two and a half innings passed uneventfully until senior outfielder Chase Knodle (Poland/Seminary) singled to center field with two outs followed by a two-run home run off the bat of senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference catcher Trent Kaltenbach (Plain City/Jonathan Adler), the Yellow Jackets' first homer of the season. The Yellow Jackets then exploded for five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning highlighted by Knodle's two-run double. BW added four more runs in the sixth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth inning to cap off a 14 run, 17 hit performance. 

 

Freshman utility player Alex Ludwick (Brunswick/Padua Franciscan) led the Yellow Jackets at the plate with three hits, including a double and a triple. Senior All-OAC outfielder Alex Marcum (Granville), junior Academic All-OAC outfielder Reese Albright (Parma/North Royalton) and Knodle each added two hits while Kaltenbach had 3 RBIs. 

 

Senior American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-Mideast Region and All-OAC pitcher Evan Lovick (Mentor) threw five scoreless innings to earn his second win of season. 

 

In the second game, BW jumped on the scoreboard with seven runs in the second inning, including the first collegiate home run from sophomore outfielder Dudley Taw (Sheffield Lake/Brookside), a three-run dinger. After that second inning, Oberlin (0-2) proceeded to hold the Yellow Jackets scoreless until the bottom of the seventh when Ludwick hit a sacrifice fly that scored Marcum. Sophomore infielder Jacob Bonner (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) brought home senior All-OAC infielder Spencer Badia (Bellaire) with a single and then Bonner came around to score with a single from junior infielder Philip Wells (Buffalo, N.Y./St. Joseph's Collegiate). Senior outfielder Ian Forster (North Olmsted) added another run in the bottom of the eighth inning when he ripped a double down the left field to score Marcum. Two more runs were scored in the eighth with a walk and a wild pitch. 

 

Marcum and Bonner each had two hits in the second game with Marcum's hits being a double and a triple. 

 

Junior right-handed pitcher Danny Cody (Medina/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) got the nod in the second game, going four strong innings with nine strikeouts. Sophomore pitcher Michael Hubert (Cincinnati/Oak Hills) got the win, however, as he did not allow a single hit in two innings on the mound. 

 

BW will be back in action when the Yellow Jackets travel down to Florida for their annual spring break trip. BW will take on St. John Fisher (N.Y.) College, Babson (Mass.) College, Moravian (Pa.) College, Bluffton University, Alvernia (Pa.) University, the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford (Pa.) and Kean (N.J.) University while on the trip.