Baseball Team Earns First Victory of Season

The Spalding University Golden Eagles Baseball Team earned their first victory of the season Saturday, March 6 against Grace College.  The Golden Eagles scheduled the game against Grace College because of their cancelled games last weekend.  Grace College was coming into the game with a 4-1 record on the season.  Spalding entered the game with an 0-2 record.

Spalding started pitcher Jake Wardrip in the game.  Wardrip entered the game with an 0-1 record, but pitched well against Franklin College during the game the previous weekend.  Wardrip pitched 6.2 innings, giving up only 5 hits and 2 runs, both of them unearned.  Steven Wilson was the story for the Golden Eagles on the offensive side of the field.  Wilson went 2 for 3 from the plate with an RBI and a run scored

This victory is the first for new head baseball coach, Mike Stawski.  “It definitely gets the monkey off the back. I would be lying if I said I didn't think about it,” Stawski said about his first win, “It feels good, like I said last week you always think about your first win happening in some dramatic ending, I don't think this game disappointed in that sense.”  The game was dramatic to say the least.  Entering the 7th inning, Spalding was leading 4-0 when Grace put up 2 runs.  When Spalding got to bat in the bottom of the 7th inning, Brandon Fenwick earned an RBI which would turn out to be a very important one.  After a scoreless 8th inning, Spalding entered the 9th inning with a 5-2 lead.  Grace put up 2 runs with 2 outs again.  After a shot to left center, Brandon Fenwick comes up short on a diving effort, Eric Johnson is there to back him up.  Johnson threw to short stop, Bryan Clemmons, who made a quick relay to 3rd Baseman, Ryan Metry for the tag out and the last out of the game.  Spalding came away with an exciting 5-4 win.

When asked what his team did better in this game instead of the teams first two games, Coach Stawski responded, “To be blunt; everything. We swung the bat much better, we had a better approach at the plate and got off better swings. It was something we drilled into the guys at practice this past week. Our defense was shaky at times but also made some big plays. And I can't say that Jake threw better than last week because I think he was sharper against Franklin but our staff gutted it out and got us a win.”

Spalding’s next game will be played on Wednesday, March 10 at Centre College.  “Centre is coming off a few big wins just like Grace was, so we are going to be getting them when they are at their best. I think we will match up just fine.  We are obviously an aggressive team so I think that style will be something Centre hasn't seen yet. We have two young arms going on the hill so we will see how they fare.”  Those two young arms will be Frank Carter and Ben Glassner, both freshmen.  Spalding will look to even up their record before they travel to Mississippi for a 3 game road trip.