Wells Baseball Splits Double Dip Against Utica

The Wells College baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader against Utica College on Sunday, April 2 at the Wells Turf Field in Aurora, N.Y. The host Express won the opening game 8-2, and Utica won the second game by a score of 6-4.

Wells is 4-10 overall and Utica's record stands at 6-9. Wells returns to action Wednesday, April 5 at Elmira College.

Wells 8, Utica 2

Dylan Nolan and Mark Yorkey each had two hits and drove in three runs and Zach Kemp turned in his best pitching performance of the season as Wells won the opening game. The Express scored one in the first, two in the third, three in the fourth and two more in the sixth.

Nolan doubled in Brandon Shirley in the third inning and then hit a two-run homer in the fourth for Wells. Yorkey had an RBI double in the first inning and two-run single in the sixth. Shirley was 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Tyler Young also had a two-hit performance for the Express.

Kemp pitched six innings with seven strikeouts. He allowed four hits and four walks with two earned runs. Garrett Gagnon pitched a perfect seventh inning with one strikeout.

Utica 6, Wells 4

Wells led 1-0 in the bottom of the first after a leadoff single from A.J. Nesci and a double from Mike Diehr put runners at second and third, Greyson Avots delivered a sacrifice fly RBI. After two runs for the Pioneers in the second, Wells tied the score in the bottom of the third on another sac fly RBI, this one from Tyler Young to bring in Avots.

The teams traded runs in the fourth as Utica scored in the top of the inning and Wells scored on an RBI triple from Justin Forster and an RBI on an infield grounder by Nesci. Utica scored two in the fifth and one in the seventh. Wells mustered a run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single from Tanner Dunkel.

Wells left 11 runners on base in the game. Brandon Shirley pitched four and a third innings and took the loss. Jared Bieber pitched the final 2.2 innings.