BEREA, Ohio – The Capital University baseball team traveled to the No. 4 nationally ranked Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets on Friday afternoon playing with nothing to lose. In game one, Capital erupted out of the starting blocks, and continued a strong pattern of offense to defeat BW 14-6 on the heels of 18 hits, three walks and two hit-by-pitches. The momentum nearly continued to a memorable sweep, but Capital's offense did not produce until the ninth as Cap fell 4-1 in the second game.
Despite not completing the sweep, the game one victory proved to be memorable in and of itself. The win over the No. 4 ranked Yellow Jackets marked the highest ranked opponent Capital had defeated since the team beat then No. 5 ranked Marietta College on April 12, 2021 at Clowson Field. The win against Baldwin Wallace also marked Capital's first over the Yellow Jackets since April 22, 2019 when CU won 12-4 at Clowson Field – snapping a streak of eight consecutive losses to BW.
With today's split, Capital is now 9-26 on the year, including a 3-13 mark in the OAC. BW claimed the OAC regular season championship outright with the game two win and now sit 30-6 overall and 14-2 in the conference.
In game one, Capital's offense scored three runs in the top of the second inning thanks to a sac fly from
Jared Carpenter, an RBI triple from
Ryne McKinney and an RBI single from
Cole Boroff. Leading 3-0, the Comets surrendered a three spot to BW in the bottom of the second to tie things at 3-3.
Despite the brief setback, Capital's offense remained hot thanks to a lead off solo home run in the top of the fourth from McKinney. With the momentum from McKinney's third blast of the season, Capital added two more before the end of the inning thanks to a two-RBI single from
Robby Harrison.
Unsatisfied, Capital scored three more in the top of the fifth on a two-RBI single from
Cade Anderson and an RBI double from Harrison to make the score 9-4 in favor of the Comets.
Knowing the firepower in the home dugout, Capital kept the pressure up offensively and scored two more in the sixth on a two-RBI from McKinney.
In the bottom of the sixth, BW scored two runs of their own, but those proved to be mere consolation as another three-spot in the eighth inning led to the eventual 14-6 win for the Comets. First, Carpenter singled to left, scoring Michael Andryzczsyk and then
Kielan LaMarr reached via an error that allowed two runners to score.
Offensively in the first game, Capital had several players perform exceptionally well as the team tagged 18 hits.
Michael Andryszczyk and
Robby Harrison led the way with four base hits each, while
Ryne McKinney (3),
Jared Carpenter (2),
Cole Boroff (2),
Arnulfo Gonzalez,
Kielan LaMarr and
Cade Anderson joined the fun.
Trevor Woodyard picked up his first win of the season on the mound after he pitched five full innings. Woodyard ended with six hits and four walks allowed while surrendering five earned runs. He struckout two Yellow Jackets and was aided by four innings of strong relief from
Brian Young and
Tyler Sickles. Young ended with 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, and 1 BB. Sickles ended with 1.2 innings of perfect relief. He struckout three BW hitters in his time on the mound.
In the second game, BW's starting pitcher twirled a gem of a complete game as he carried a no-hitter into the top of the eighth inning where
Jared Carpenter's single to left broke things up.
In the ninth inning, Capital did get two more hits and a run to avoid the shutout after
Robby Harrison singled and then scored on
Connor Feeney's RBI double.
Despite the difficulties offensively in game two, Cap stayed close as their own pitching staff performed well yet again.
Tyler Bebout started on the mound and tossed seven innings where he conceded four hits, three walks and three earned runs. He struckout two.
Logan Detty and
Landon Kim combined for the final inning of relief.
UP NEXT
Capital will travel to Kenyon College on Wednesday, May 1st for a single non-conference game that has been rescheduled from a March 26th rainout. Then, the team will conclude their season on Sunday, May 5th with Senior Day at Clowson Field.
