Quakers pound
Bluffton, 19-9

WC rips 23 hits in win

[Box Score]

March 29, 2006

BLUFFTON — Wilmington College pounded out 23 hits to roll past Bluffton, 19-9, in non-conference baseball action Wednesday. The win moves the Quakers to 5-4 on the season while Bluffton drops to 7-8.

Mike Cafarella

Because of the snowy, rainy start to spring in Ohio, the game was the Quakers' first live action since a 12-7 loss to Wooster in Fort Myers, Fla., March 17. Wilmington head coach Tony Haley said he was concerned about how the layoff would affect his team's potent bats.

"We hadn't played for a long time. All we're doing is taking batting practice. We haven't seen any live pitching for a long time," Haley said. "We had an intra-squad scrimmage Sunday, but they've hit off the same guys over and over. We came out and swung it well today."

The Quakers and Beavers were tied 5-5 after four innings, but Wilmington blew the game wide open with nine runs in the fifth. Mike Kroeger (Cincinnati/Elder) opened the frame with a homer and delivered an RBI single later in the inning. The big blast of the inning, though, was a three-run double from Mike Cafarella (Beavercreek).

"Mike's double was the biggest hit of the game," Haley said. "It was a close game, 8-5, when he got that hit. It was a big inning and a big win. Florida is still in the back of our minds. I've been reminding them that we were 4-4 and not getting it done. They came ready today and absolutely tore it up."

Ben Buehner (Germantown/Valley View), Kroeger and Matt Morris (Hamilton) had four hits each, one of Morris' safeties was a homer. Taylor Clark (Morrow/McCallie, Tenn.) ripped three hits and Cafarella, Jimmy Wolverton (London/Madison Plains) and Greg Krieger (Bellefontaine) had two hits each.

Seven Wilmington pitchers yielded a total of 16 hits. Nick Borgmann (Milford) pitched two-thirds of an inning, but got the win thanks to Wilmington's fifth-inning uprising. Jamison George (Mount Sterling/Miami Trace) pitched a scoreless seventh inning that featured Wilmington's first double play of the season.

Wilmington opens Ohio Athletic Conference play Saturday at Marietta.