Timely Hits, Solid Pitching Sends Baseball To Victory

The Wells College baseball team defeated Cazenovia College 8-4 on Saturday, April 20 at the Wells Turf Field. The Express improved to 12-16 overall and 6-5 in the North Eastern Athletic Conference. Jared Strait pitched eight strong innings and Derek Shea had a pair of two-run singles.

Six NEAC victories is the most conference wins in a single season that Wells baseball has achieved in the three-year history of the program. Wells currently stands tied for fourth in the conference standings. The top six teams will make the NEAC playoffs.

Saturday's game was moved from Cazenovia to Wells, but the Wildcats batted in the bottom of each inning as the designated home team.

The Express went ahead 2-0 in the top of the first when A.J. Nesci started the rally with a single and Mark Yorkey followed with a double. Tyler Young delivered a two-run single later in the inning.

Cazenovia tied it in the third on two-run homer to right by Bobby Antonacci.

In the fourth, Shea came through with a single up the middle to bring home Tanner Dunkel and Tyler Young.

Once again Cazenovia tied it, scoring twice in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Antonacci and a run-scoring ground out.

Shea came through again in the top of the sixth. His single to center brought in Dunkel and Anthony Aumick. Shea came home to score on a balk later in the inning. Wells added an insurance run in the ninth on a sac fly by Mark Yorkey to bring in Kevin Spaeth.

Starting pitcher Jared Strait earned the victory with eight strong innings. He allowed six hits and four runs with seven strikeouts and two walks. Alexander Mott pitched the ninth and retired three in a row after a leadoff single.

Young, Shea, and Spaeth had two hits each. Yorkey's double in the first was the only extra-base hit of the game for Wells, which totaled 10 hits in the ballgame.

A scheduled doubleheader for Wells at D'Youville College on Monday, April 22 has been postponed. Wells will travel to Oneonta on Wednesday, April 24 and return to conference play with a three-game series April 27-28 at home against Keuka College.