ALLIANCE, Ohio – The second-seeded Baldwin Wallace University baseball team defeated Ohio Northern University at Rafeld-Rogers Field by a score of 5-1 to win their third consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference Championship and their fifth in school history and clinch the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
After trailing 1-0 at the end of the first, the Yellow Jackets scored two runs in the bottom of the second and three in the bottom of the fifth which was good enough to win the game by four runs.
BW (31-10) took a much different journey this year to win the tournament than last year. After winning the first two games against Ohio Northern and 12th-ranked Mount Union, they lost to ONU which forced a winner-take-all game. Last year, they won their second consecutive OAC Tournament by winning all three games they played.
The Yellow Jackets had five players on the OAC All-Tournament team, which include Senior outfielder Dennis Ritlinger-Nirider (Grove City), Senior shortstop Matt Terzola (Uniontown/Archbishop Hoban), junior right-hander Matt Moscarino (Strongsville/Padua Franciscan), Senior Two-Way Player Nolan Kellicker (Dover) and the tournaments Most Valuable Player (MVP) senior left-hander and ace Brit Kostura (Tequesta, Fla./Jupiter Christian School).
Scoring Summary
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Bottom 2nd – Senior right-fielder Reid Fleming (Pickerington/North) opened up the scoring for the Yellow Jackets with an RBI single to right center field to tie the game up at one
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Bottom 2nd – Senior shortstop Matt Terzola (Uniontown/Archbishop Hoban) followed up Fleming's single with one of his own as the Brown and Gold took their first lead in the last 11 innings they've played
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Bottom 5th – After BW went three full innings without any runs, junior first-baseman Ryan Gordon (Strongsville) had an RBI singe to give the Yellow Jackets a 3-1 lead
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Bottom 5th – Junior second-basemen Carson Petrecca (Willowick/Eastlake North) picked up an RBI single of his own to extend the Yellow Jacket lead to 4-1
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Bottom 5th – Sophomore left fielder Mario Escano (Broadview Heights/North Royalton) had the third and final RBI single of the inning as the Brown and Gold were up 5-1 heading into the sixth
At the Plate
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Terzola finished the day at the plate going 2-for-3 with an RBI single which was his second multi-hit game of the tournament
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Gordon was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored
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Ritlinger-Nirider went 2-for-4 with a run scored
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Junior catcher Mason Fixx (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) went 1-for-3 and drew one walk, reaching base at least twice in all four games of the tournament
On the Mound
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Senior Two-Way Player Nolan Kellicker (Dover) came on in relief in the bottom of the second and pitched four innings, striking out three, issued one walk, giving up two hits while allowing no runs
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Freshman right-hander Aidan Nitsche (Williamsville, N.Y./St. Joseph's Colleigiate Institute) pitched four shutout innings with three strikeouts and also not issuing a walk in just his second appearence of the season
Up Next
With today's OAC Tournament victory, the Yellow Jackets punched their ticket to the 2026 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament with an automatic bid. Seeding and opponent info will be released by the NCAA during the selection show on Monday, May 11 at 12 p.m.
