Wabash saw its 17-game winning streak against Earlham come to an end with a 3-1 victory by Quakers on the baseball diamond Monday night. The Little Giants held on for a 3-2 win in the nightcap of the doubleheader to come away with a split.
The Little Giants came into Monday’s two-game set with a 64-12 overall record against the Quakers and a 26-2 mark in North Coast Athletic Conference games. The Quakers rode good pitching from freshman Adam Painter to the victory in game one and capitalized on good team speed to hand Wabash the loss. The Little Giants and Quakers saw their weekend series postponed due to weather, forcing the teams to play the doubleheader Monday evening. The two teams will meet once more on April 27 to complete the schedule four-game set.
Painter scattered eight hits over seven innings while walking two with five strikeouts. The Little Giants stranded 11 base runners in the contest. Earlham scrapped for three runs on just four hits against Wabash starter Mike Korfhagen, who fell to 2-2 with the loss. The junior struck out five, but had two leadoff walks in two different innings score in the game.
The Quakers got a leadoff walk in the second inning from Andrew Morrical, who then stole second and third before scoring on a ground out to second for a 1-0 lead for Earlham. Another leadoff walk in the third inning, this time to Alex Anderson, led to another run when Jake Carr’s RBI single made it a 2-0 lead.
Wabash pushed a run across in the sixth on an RBI single by Nathan Schrader after Tanner Coggins and Joel Bustamante each singled to start the inning. Earlham answered with an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single from Morrical.
The Little Giants roared back in game two on one swing of the bat by senior Shaun Rico. The Wabash first baseman blasted a two-run homer to left center in the fourth inning to support an outstanding pitching effort by Andy Weeks. The junior lefthander struck out a season-high eight batters, holding the Quakers hitless through the first three innings. Weeks worked six innings, allowing only three hits and no earned runs while earning his third win of the season.
Keegan Leckrone came on in the seventh after Wabash took a 3-1 lead in the seventh on singles by Schrader and Jake Thomas an a sacrifice fly from Bobby Ritz. Leckrone had dominated hitters over the past 11 innings, not surrendering a hit while picking up two wins and a save throughout that stretch. The sophomore was greeted with a double by Morrical, followed by a two-out single by Kyle Stauffer to cut the Wabash lead to one run. A third single by the Quakers put the tying run at second, but Leckrone got a ground ball to end the game, earning his third save of the season.
Wabash moves to 16-13 overall and 6-4 in the NCAC Western Division. The Little Giants still trail Denison and Ohio Wesleyan by a game in league standings with a key series this weekend at Mud Hollow Field against Wittenberg University. Prior to that series the Little Giants will play North Central College at the US Steel Yard in Gary, Indiana on Thursday at 7 p.m. (CDT).