One week after playing small ball to set up a series sweep over one team, the Wabash baseball team played long ball for a Saturday sweep in its North Coast Athletic Conference opening series.
Senior Shaun Rico (right) launched a two-out, three-run home run over the right-center field fence to give Wabash a 3-2 in Saturday's second game between the Little Giants and defending North Coast Athletic Conference champion Ohio Wesleyan University. Wabash defeated the host Battling Bishops 5-1 in the series opener after a 2-hour, 19-minute snow delay behind home runs by Jake Thomas and Matt Dodaro
Wabash had managed only one hit in game two off OWU starter Sean Speed before the seventh inning when Thomas singled to left with one out. Dodaro followed with a fielder's choice before freshman Tanner Coggins singled through the right side to put two runners on for Rico. The senior first baseman blasted a shot over the fence to erase a 2-0 deficit.
Andy Weeks (left), who earned his second consecutive win, pitched a complete game. The junior lefty allowed only two earned runs on five hits. He walked three, struck out five, and hit three batters. Speed, who had posted wins over second-ranked Wooster and ninth-ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point, suffered his second loss of the season.
Freshman catcher Alan Griggs added the fourth hit of the game for Wabash and had a key defensive play when he threw out a runner at third base on a missed sacrifice bunt play to keep the game close.
Wabash took an early 1-0 lead in game one Saturday morning when Dodaro hit his second home run of the season through a curtain of snow. Two outs later the umpires cleared the players off the field, waiting for over two hours before restarting the game after a steady stream of snow finally left the area.
The Little Giants added to the lead in the third inning. Freshman Joel Bustamante started the inning with a double to right-center. He moved to third on a sacrifice by Nathan Schrader before an RBI single by PJ Tyson scored Bustamante for a 2-0 Wabash lead. The Bishops answered with a solo homer by shortstop Logan Hronis to trim the lead to one run. Wabash stretched its lead to 4-1 when Thomas followed a Bobby Ritz single with a two-run shot over the centerfield fence. The Little Giants added an insurance run in the seventh when Rico came home on an RBI ground out by Schrader.
Mike Korfhagen (right) earned the win, scattering five hits in a complete game effort. He walked one, surrendering only one run on the homer by Hronis. Korfhagen finished with nine strikeouts.
The Little Giants (9-6, 2-0 NCAC West) had only won once at Littick Field since joining the NCAC prior to their two-game sweep Saturday. Wabash was just 25-4 against the OWU since 2000 and had not won back-to-back games against the Bishops since 2003. The win also stretched the Little Giants' winning streak to six games.
Wabash and OWU will play the final two games of the series Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. at Littick Field.