Ohio Wesleyan 12, Kenyon 5
Ohio Wesleyan 8, Kenyon 0

April 29, 2006

Junior second baseman Kyle Sherman (Plain City/Dublin Scioto) slammed 2 home runs and drove in 6 runs to lead Ohio Wesleyan to a sweep of Kenyon in a semifinal series of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament on Saturday at Littick Field.

Ohio Wesleyan advances to the NCAC championship series, scheduled for Thursday and Friday at Carleton-Davidson Stadium in Springfield. The Bishops will face Wooster, which defeated Wittenberg in the other semifinal series. Wittenberg won the first game of that series, 8-7, on Saturday, but Wooster bounced back to take a 5-0 win in the second game on Saturday and took a 13-3 win in Sunday's game.

The Ohio Wesleyan-Kenyon semifinal series marked the first meeting between the teams since 1999, the last season in which the NCAC played a round-robin format. Beginning with the 2000 season, the NCAC split into divisions for baseball, with Kenyon playing in the East Division and Ohio Wesleyan in the West Division.

Kenyon jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning of the opener when Chad Rothschild led off with a double, moved to third on Sherman's throwing error and scored on Matt Marcinczyk's infield out.

Sherman redeemed himself in the bottom of the inning, evening the game at 1-1 by lofting a sacrifice fly to score senior shortstop Brandon Williams (Dublin/Coffman), who had singled, stolen second and taken third on a passed ball.

The Bishops took the lead for good with 4 runs in the fourth. Sherman led off with a single and moved to second when Lord pitcher Michael Coe threw wildly on a pickoff attempt. Sophomore first baseman A.J. Dote (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) then dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but all hands were safe when Kenyon catcher Tyler Kavanaugh overthrew the bag at first, with Sherman scoring on the play. After a walk to senior third baseman Sammy Hall (North Riverside, Ill./Nazareth Academy), junior first baseman Tom Bottichio (Mason) followed with an RBI single to center, with Hall taking third on the play and Bottichio taking second on the throw to third. Hall then scored on a balk and Bottichio scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of senior outfielder Adam Toney (Galloway/Westland).

Ohio Wesleyan broke the game open with 5 runs in the seventh, with Sherman's 3-run homer highlighting the frame.

Kenyon closed to within 10-5 in the eighth, with Blaise Milburn collecting an RBI single and Brad Reynolds adding a 2-run single, but the Bishops came back with 2 runs in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by freshman outfielder John Maggard (Worthington/Thomas Worthington) and Dote's RBI triple.

Sophomore outfielder Donnie Paul (Lewis Center/Olentangy) went 3-for-4 for Ohio Wesleyan, while the first 6 batters in the Bishop order -- Williams, Maggard, Sherman, Dote, Hall and Bottichio -- collected 2 hits apiece.

Senior righthander Michael Krieger (Boardman) pitched the complete game, allowing 7 hits and striking out 8 while walking 4.

Michael Coe was the starting and losing pitcher for Kenyon.

In the nightcap, sophomore righthander Sean Speed (Cincinnati/St. Xavier) blanked the Lords on 3 hits through the first 7.0 innings.

Meanwhile, the Ohio Wesleyan offense built an 8-0 lead. Sherman put the Bishops on top with a solo shot in the first inning, and Dote beat out a potential inning-ending double play grounder in the third, allowing Maggard to score to make it 2-0, Bishops.

Dote slammed a 3-run homer in the fifth and the Bishops added 3 runs in the sixth, with Paul's RBI single the highlight.

Dote finished with 4 RBI, while Williams, Sherman and Toney collected 2 hits apiece.

Speed struck out 7 and walked one during his 7.0 innings of work. Senior righthander Adam Dunn (Westerville/Worthington Christian) pitched the last 2.0 innings to complete the shutout.

Geoff Bollier was the starting and losing pitcher for Kenyon.

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