"Awards Show Countdown": Baseball
"Awards Show Countdown" is a Wells College Athletics feature that reviews a memorable moment from each team while counting down to showtime. With 1 day remaining until the virtual online Express Awards Show, let's take a look at a moment from the baseball team's 2020 season as our final look back. The link for the Awards Show for YouTube is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YCv2s5JgVc and for Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WellsExpress/live/
The Wells College baseball team had its most impressive performance on March 13 when the team scored eight runs in the ninth inning to tie the Rochester Institute of Technology before ending the contest in the next inning in Florida.
What made that March game memorable was its historic significance as the program's greatest career comeback win with a band of seniors leading the way that were dealing with the possibility of that game being their last. To no one's surprise, one senior brought in the winning run while another achieved a career milestone.
Never had any Wells baseball team earned a victory after trailing by eight runs in their program history, but that all would change on Friday the 13th in Florida.
Down 11-3 to the RIT in the ninth inning, the perseverant Express rallied to send the contest to extra innings. A Dylan Nolan single brought in the winning run in the top of the 10th inning, and a Nolan tag would end the contest in the bottom of the 10th.
Lost in all the excitement was Tanner Dunkel's 100th career hit in a Wells uniform. He was one of six batters to register a hit on the day with Kevin Spaeth leading the way with three. In addition to Nolan, Dunkel and Spaeth; the Express also got hits from Joe Matala, Luke Eitner and Tyler Young.
The record eight-run comeback surpassed last season's seven-run comeback that previously stood as the team's greatest comeback from March 30 at Penn State Berks. Ironically, four current seniors (then-juniors) set the stage for that comeback after the Express trailed 7-0. A Mark Yorkey triple scored Dunkel to tie the game before a Nolan two-run homer sealed the comeback the next inning, while Jared Strait earned the win on the hill.
The eight runs in an inning by Wells against RIT was the fourth-highest run total for a single inning only topped by a 15-run inning against Gallaudet, a 10-run inning in the team's home opener this season and a nine-run inning, with the latter two against Clarks Summit.
Photo link: https://wells-express.com/sports/bsb/2019-20/photos/0002/index
