WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The West Virginia Wesleyan baseball team closed out their trip to Florida Thursday with a 15-5 win against Wayne State College in the RussMatt Invitational. The Bobcats put up 19 hits on the Wildcats in the win.
The Bobcats put a two spot on the board in the top of the first with Julio Aguilar plating a run with a single and Thatcher Poteat getting an one-run double to left. The Wildcats answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first to tie it at 2-2 after one inning of play. Wesleyan went 1-2-3 in the top half of the second inning and Wayne State took their first lead of the game with another sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second.
Wesleyan’s bats were active again in the third inning, scoring two runs on a pair of RBI singles from Devin Johnson and Poteat. In the fourth inning, the Bobcats were awarded another two runs thanks to multiple errors by the Wildcats. WSC got close in the bottom of the fourth on an error by Wesleyan, making it 6-4 after four innings.
WVWC blew it open in the top of the fifth, plating five runs off of four hits. Eddie Rueda picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly, followed by Ian Donohoe scoring Poteat with a one-run single. A few batters later, Jack Tilton doubled to right to cross two more runs for the Bobcats. Sam Ingram scored on a wild pitch to finish the scoring for the inning. Wayne State scored one run in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single.
Four more runs were scored in the top of the sixth by Wesleyan to put WSC out of reach. Dharyl Moon scored on an error, Chris Hulmes crossed on a wild pitch, Tilton hit a sacrifice fly and Johnson picked up a RBI single. The Bobcats closed the book on the Wildcats in seven innings after retiring the lineup in order in the both the sixth and seventh inning.
Wayne State used five different pitchers in the loss, including three not going a full inning.
Ingram went 4-5,Tilton and Poteat were 3-4 at the plate and Tilton had 3 RBIa to lead the Bobcats. Johnson and Poteat both had 2 RBIs to aid the offense. Rueda, Aguilar and Donohoe added an RBI each. AJ Ventry went seven innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on 10 hits and walking four.
Up Next For The Bobcats
Wesleyan goes straight to Beckley for a three-game series with Bluefield State, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday and a single-game on Sunday.
