College of Wooster baseball sweeps Kenyon to finish regular season

Kevin Smith
·5 min read
The College of Wooster's Dean Brown makes a throw.
The College of Wooster's Dean Brown makes a throw.

WOOSTER — Junior center fielder Jack Whitehouse ripped a walk-off single into left field in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift The College of Wooster baseball team to a 4-3 game-one win over visiting Kenyon College on Sunday afternoon at Art Murray Field.

Then, Wooster clinched its spot in the upcoming North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament with a wild start turned rout, as the Fighting Scots capped the regular season with a 16-5 victory over the Lords.

Wooster (27-12, 12-6 NCAC) actually needed a sweep just to get into the tournament, and keep its run of being the lone NCAC team to qualify every time intact. Had DePauw University (21-15, 12-6 NCAC) won more games against Allegheny College (24-15, 9-9 NCAC) than Wooster won against Kenyon (23-13, 11-7 NCAC), or the Gators swept the Tigers and the Lords swept the Scots, Wooster would have been the odd team out for the four-team conference tournament. DePauw ran its winning streak to 11 with a 13-4 and 14-5 sweep of Allegheny, and with Wooster’s sweep of Kenyon, the Lords fell out of the conference tournament after entering the day in third-place.

Kenyon’s bullpen’s ineffectiveness at pounding the strike zone ultimately played a decisive role in Sunday’s opener. Wooster senior right fielder Ben Hines was hit by a pitch in the 11th inning, as was junior third baseman Dean Brown, with the latter stuffing the bases full of Scots with two outs. Senior shortstop Tyler Chumita drew a walk in between the plunked Scots. Whitehouse emerged as the hero by ripping a 1-1 pitch from Sam Richards into left field.

Lack of bullpen command was also evident during Wooster’s two-run eighth inning. Kenyon relief pitcher Noah Rosenberg hit Hines, sophomore designated hitter Eli Westrick, and senior pinch hitter Alex Gasper before being lifted. Kenyon closer Joel Biery had no luck rescuing his bullpen mate, with Brown roping a game-tying two-run single up the middle on the left-hander’s first pitch. Hines logged steal 25 of the year in the midst of the hit batsmen, becoming the first Scot since Sean Karpen in 2008 to hit the quarter-century mark in a season.

Wooster threatened in every inning down the stretch, stranding two after Brown’s game-tying hit. In the ninth inning, Wooster left the bases loaded, while in the 10th inning, two more Scot runners were left onboard.

Senior Ben Gbur (1-1) worked three innings of shutout baseball for the win. The right-hander was aided by battery mate Michael Thomas, who caught Nate Rosen stealing after a one-out single in the top of the 11th inning.

Kenyon starter Alex Gow made a strong case for NCAC Pitcher of the Year honors with seven innings of one-run baseball, during which he struck out 11 and fired 87 strikes on 118 pitches. Wooster finally got to the right-hander in the sixth inning when Hines hit a double to left field and Chumita followed with a two-bagger to the alley in right.

Wooster senior Mitchell Reardon allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings, then junior Ethan Samangy fired three scoreless innings.

In the nightcap, Wooster hung a four-spot on Kenyon’s Frank Lynch in the first inning. Two of the runs scored on Chumita’s triple into the right field corner, and the fourth came in when junior first baseman Dane Camphausen blasted a 2-2 pitch out to left center for a round-tripper. However, the lead did not hold, as Kenyon stormed back with a five-run second inning before Wooster got back on track.

Rosenberg (3-1) tried to earn redemption in the second inning, but immediately ran into trouble. First-year second baseman Nick Pett drilled a double off the fence in left field, then the Lords bullpen ace’s wildness kicked in again, this time with junior left fielder Dominic Stilliana wearing a pitch. Later, Chumita blasted a go-ahead three-run homer to right center. As Chumita touched home, the education and mathematics major’s RBI count reached 74, the fourth-most in single-season history, and the top total since W Association Hall of Famer Matt Jackson’s 75 in 1997.

Runs kept coming for Wooster – two on Westrick’s fourth-inning single, one on Stilliana’s fifth-inning single through the left side of the infield, and then six in the sixth inning. Kenyon came unglued defensively with two costly errors in the sixth, including on a boot by third baseman Alex Hoskins that allowed two Wooster runs to score.

Junior Christian Johnston (3-0) was the winner. He allowed one run in 1⅔ innings of work. Samangy returned to the bump in the fifth, and earned a save with 2⅓ innings of scoreless relief work due to the tying run being on deck when he entered.

Chumita went 4-for-8 with six RBIs, three runs scored, a double, triple, and home run for the day. The shortstop is now within three RBIs of W Association Hall of Famer Rick Sforzo’s single-season record of 77 set in 1986. Brown and Westrick had three hits apiece for the day.

Andrew Rabinowitz was a tough out for the Scots pitcher. He finished the day 6-for-7 with three RBIs and two doubles.

Next, Wooster is off to VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio, for the double-elimination NCAC Tournament. Wooster, seeded third, opens play against second-seeded Wittenberg University (27-10, 14-4 NCAC) at 8 p.m. Thursday. NCAC champion Denison University (29-8, 16-2 NCAC) and fourth-seeded DePauw University (21-15, 12-6 NCAC) open the tournament at 3 p.m. Thursday.

Please note the tournament is slated for May 12-15 and the third day – May 14 or 15 – will depend on who the remaining teams are. NCAC policy prohibits teams from playing conference events on commencement and both Denison and Wittenberg have commencement on May 14.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: College of Wooster baseball sweeps Kenyon to finish regular season