ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University baseball team defeated the University of Mount Union at Rafeld-Rogers Field by a score of 9-2 to advance to the championship round of the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament.
After splitting the regular season series with the Purple Raiders, BW had 17 hits as a team to avoid the later game in the losers' bracket and get more rest heading into tomorrow.
On offense, the Brown and Gold were led by Senior shortstop Matt Terzola (Uniontown/Archbishop Hoban), who was a perfect 4-for-5 and had an RBI double.
On the mound, the team was led by Senior left-hander and ace Brit Kostura (Tequesta, Fla./Jupiter Christian School), who went seven innings with four strikeouts, allowing five hits and one run, as the OAC Pitcher of the Year candidate made his case even stronger to secure that honor.
Scoring Summary
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Top 1st - Junior first-baseman Ryan Gordon (Strongsville) hit a sacrifice fly to deep right center field as BW played from in front to start things off
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Top 2nd - Senior shortstop Matt Terzola (Uniontown/Archbishop Hoban) hit a single into left field to give BW a 2-0 lead after the top half of the second inning
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Top 3rd - Sophomore left fielder Mario Escano (Broadview Heights/North Royalton) had the third RBI single of the game for the Yellow Jackets to put them up by three
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Top 4th - Senior infielder Sean Kolenich (Parma/St Edward) hit an RBI double that hit off the top of the right center field wall to score Escano and take a four-run lead on the Purple Raiders
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Top 4th - Gordon drove in two runs on a double to left to extend the lead to 6-0 in favor of BW
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Top 5th - Senior right-fielder John Panstares (Westlake/St Ignatius) had an RBI double in the gap of left center field for the fifth consecutive inning in which BW has scored a run
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Top 5th - Kolenich had a sacrifice fly to make it an 8-0 BW, finishing with five combined runs over the fourth and fifth innings
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Top 7th - Kolenich had another sacrifice fly, this time to center field to put the Yellow Jackets back up by eight
At the Plate
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Kolenich was 3-for-3 at the plate with one double, three RBI, and two runs scored
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Escano went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI for his fifth multi-hit game of the season
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Junior catcher Mason Fixx (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) also added a multi-hit game, going 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored to help the Yellow Jacket bats
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Terzola highlighted the offense; he went 4-for-5 with an RBI single, a double, and a run scored
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Gordon had three RBI for the afternoon, which included a sacrifice fly in the top of the first and a double in the fourth
On the Mound
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Kostura was the starting and winning pitcher for the Yellow Jackets, going seven innings with four strikeouts, allowing five hits while giving up just one run in 86 pitches
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Sophomore right-hander Sam Hoffman (Mentor/Notre Dame Cathedral Latin) finished up the game for the Yellow Jackets, going two innings and allowing a run on just one hit, one walk, while striking out three
Up Next
The Yellow Jackets are back in action tomorrow, May 9, where they will square off against the winner of the Ohio Northern-Mount Union game later this afternoon in a best-of-two battle. First pitch of the first game is set for 1 p.m., with the following game, if necessary, starting 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Fans can tune into FloCollege for full coverage.
