Little Giants Rally For Home Doubleheader Sweep Over OWU

An RBI single by Liam Patton in the bottom of the eighth inning delivered a 3-2 win to the Wabash baseball team Tuesday evening and secured a two-game North Coast Athletic Conference series sweep over Ohio Wesleyan. The Little Giants won game one against the Battling Bishops 8-2.
 
Wabash (16-11, 2-8 NCAC) held a 2-1 lead in game two versus OWU (8-19, 2-7 NCAC) until the visiting Battling Bishops rallied for a run in the top half of the eighth inning with a two-out single to tie the game at 2-2. Camden Scheidt hit a one-out double but was stuck at second with two away until Patton hit his game-winning single to bring Scheidt home.
 
AJ Reid came on in the ninth inning to retire the first two hitters before giving up a walk to put the tying run aboard. Reid induced a deep flyball to left-centerfield that was tracked down by Reece Bauer to end the game and give the Little Giants the victory. Reid recorded his second save of the season.  Reliever Robbie Manuzzi improved to 2-0 for the year by pitching 4-1/3 innings of three-hit baseball. He allowed one run and one walk while striking out three batters. Tavic Simmons started the game for Wabash but left after 3-2/3 innings due to a problem with his pitching hand. Simmons scattered seven hits and four walks over 3-2/3 innings. He pitched around a bases-loaded situation in the third inning after issuing a bases-load walk by getting a groundout to first for the final out of the inning.
 
Scheidt drove in the first run of game two for Wabash with a groundout to score Simmers from third, tying the game at 1-1. Simmers brought the second run of the game home with a sacrifice fly to score Brayden Lentz in the bottom of the fifth inning for a 2-1 Wabash lead.
 
Lentz led the Little Giants with two of the team’s seven hits. Simmers, Scheidt, Patton, Noah Luebbehusen, and Felix Valero each collected a hit in game two.
 
Wabash used a four-run third inning to secure the victory in game one and snap an eight-game losing streak in conference games. Reid was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in the first run of the inning and tie the game at 1-1. Patton followed with a two-run single to put the Little Giants in front 3-1. Evan Neukam singled home the final run in the inning to provide the 4-0 lead.
 
Reid added an RBI double in the fifth inning to extend the lead to 5-1. Ohio Wesleyan scored a run in the sixth inning with a solo home run to right field.
 
Wabash put the game away in the eighth inning with an RBI single by Simmers and a two-run double from Scheidt for the 8-2 victory.
 
Simmers, Scheidt, and Neukam each collected two hits for the Little Giants, who finished with 10 as a team. Scheidt, Reid, and Patton finished the game with two RBI apiece.
 
Jacob Bishop picked up his fourth victory of the season by pitching five innings for the Little Giants. He held OWU to five hits and two runs while striking out five and walking four batters. Sam Phillips earned his first save of the season with four innings of relief work. He allowed only three base runners with one hit, one walk, and one hit batsman over 43 pitches.
 
Wabash continues the NCAC portion of its schedule with a road doubleheader Saturday at Oberlin College.