Second Innings Propel Express Baseball Team to Doubleheader Wins

Home doubleheaders have gone well for Wells so far this season. The team swept its second home doubleheader by taking a pair of games from the visiting Hilbert College Hawks with eight hits in each game. The Express got all the scoring it would need in the second inning of both games to claim victory. In the first game, Wells rallied from a 2-0 deficit with five runs in the second before finishing with an 8-4 win. In the second game, the Express scored a pair in the second before adding another pair in the fifth for a 4-1 final.

Game 1:  Wells 8 Hilbert 4

Jordan VanHerpe (Liverpool, N.Y.) scored the winning run in the second inning after his 2-RBI inside the park homerun gave Wells a 5-2 lead with Max Odum (Elmira, N.Y.) scoring the fourth run. Max Odum tripled in the previous at-bat that scored Ryan Foody (Tully, N.Y.) and Joe Horne (Hicksville, N.Y.) to give Wells its first lead of the game at 3-2.

Ian Crawford (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Footy both finished with a pair of hits each with the latter earning a double on one of his two. In addition to VanHerpe and Max Odum, Kevin Spaeth (Haddon Heights, N.J.) also recorded an extra base hit with a double. Dylan Nolan (Brick, N.J.) rounded out the hitters for Wells.

Of the eight runs, Crawford and Footy finished with a pair each with single scores to VanHerpe, Max Odum, Horne and Nolan. Zach Kemp (Ithaca, N.Y.) earned the win from the mound with 11 strikeouts, while allowing eight hits and four runs in all seven innings.

Game 2:  Wells 4 Hilbert 1

Kevin Spaeth and Max Odum walked home in the second inning for the only runs the Express would need. After Hilbert cut the deficit to 2-1 in the top of the fifth, Wells answered with runs from Aaron Izquierdo (Palisades Park, N.J.) and Derek Shea (West Kingston, R.I.) in the bottom of the same inning for the 4-1 final.

Jordan VanHerpe and Max Odum led the way with a pair of hits each, with solo hits from Zack Odum (Elmira, N.Y.,) Ian Crawford, Shea and Izquierdo. Of the eight hits, two doubles came from the bats of VanHerpe and Izquierdo.

Zack Odum, Dylan Nolan and Shea recorded RBIs with Jared Strait (Lansing, N.Y.) earning the win on the hill with seven strikeouts, while allowing three hits and one run through six innings of work. Austin Jordan (Kane, Pa.) relieved Strait for the final inning and struck out two in recording the save.

The 5-3 Express wrap up a ninth-consecutive home stand against Clarks Summit on Tuesday, March 23 beginning at 4:30 p.m. before the team's conference slate begins on the road on Saturday, March 27 at Lancaster Bible College.