Junior shortstop Matt Dodaro slammed his first home run of the season and senior Shaun Rico continued to terrorize opposing pitchers in the Little Giants' 8-4 at Texas Lutheran University Wednesday afternoon.
Dodaro hit a three-run homer in the top half of the seventh inning to cap a six-run output by Wabash.
Rico singled home the first run of the game in the opening inning, one of four hits in the ballgame for the senior to increase his batting average to .429 for the season. After the Bulldogs tied the game in the bottom of the first with an RBI single off the bat of Ryan Nokelby, Wabash took another one-run lead in the fourth. PJ Tyson reached base with a one-out single, stole second, then came around to score on a single by Jake Thomas.
Texas Lutheran tied the game in the sixth after Nokelby led off the inning with a double, scoring on a single by Jason Foley. That's when Wabash broke the game open.
Rico opened the seventh with a single, moving to second on a one-out single by freshman Joel Bustamante. Nathan Schrader was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Tyson brought a run home when he was hit by a pitch to put Wabash up 3-2. A second run scored when a ground ball by Bobby Ritz was mishandled by the Bulldogs. Thomas brought home the third run on a line drive sacrifice to left, bringing Dodaro to the plate with two runners on base. The junior shortstop jacked his 12th career home run. The blast moved Dodaro into a four-way tie for third on the Wabash career home run list.
Keegan Leckrone picked up his second win of the season. The sophomore threw six innings, holding the Bulldogs to two runs on four hits. He struck out four and walked only two batters. Andy Weeks worked 2-2/3 innings before leaving with an injury. Patrick McCarley faced two batters to record the final out of the game.
Wabash (3-5) continues its Texas trip Thursday evening, playing at Southwestern University. The first pitch is slated for 7 p.m. CST.