Wabash, IN- The concluding contest of the three-game series between #12 Berea and the host Wabash College Little Giants took place this afternoon. The teams played a doubleheader yesterday afternoon in which Wabash won both games. The visiting Mountaineers looked to gain momentum as they try to work their way to an at-large bid in the 2017 USCAA Baseball Tournament.
The first inning saw Berea go three-up, three-down and the Little Giants take a 1-0 lead before the offense for the Mountaineers appeared. In the top of the second inning, Berea got two runners on base as Caleb Gupton and Andrew Akins hit singles to give Berea a chance to tie or take the lead. The runners were left on base though as the next two batters recorded outs. Wabash scored another run in the bottom of the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. William Hislope opened the third inning with a single to center field before a Nathaniel Summey single through the left side moved Hislope into scoring position on second base. Ryan Blevens reached on a fielder's choice which caused the first out of the inning as Hislope was called out at third before Devin Belleville's ground out resulted in the second out of the inning and advanced Summey and Blevens a base. Ron Overstreet's contact with the ball caused an error by the opposing third baseman and allowed Summey and Blevens to score to tie the game 2-2. The scoring ended there for Berea as the next batter recorded the final out of the inning. In their half of the third inning, the Little Giants blew the game open by scoring eight runs before scoring another four in the fourth inning to take a 14-2 advantage. The deficit would be too much for the Mountaineers to overcome as they dropped the concluding game of the weekend series by a final score of 14-2.
Hislope's 2-3 from the plate led the way for the Berea offense while Summey, Belleville, Gupton and Akins added a hit each to give the team a total of six hits. Joshua Works started the game on the mound for the Mountaineers.
#12 Berea (13-23) returns to the Berea College Sports Complex on Tuesday for their final home games of the season. The team will host Centre College in a doubleheader with a scheduled first pitch of 5:00 PM with the second game set to begin shortly after.