Bison open Florida trip with sweep of Eastern Nazarene

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (March 11) - The Bison walked-off Eastern Nazarene 12-11 in the second game to earn a two-game sweep in non-conference play Saturday. The Green & White opened the day with a 5-3 win over the Lions to begin their spring break trip.

The Bethany College baseball team improves to 2-2 overall, while Eastern Nazarene drops to 3-4 this season.

GAME 1: Bethany 5, Eastern Nazarene 3

Led by a near-complete game effort by senior pitcher Cody Gross (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin), the Bison opened their spring break trip with a 5-3 win over Eastern Nazarene.

Gross earned the win on the mound after holding the Lions to three runs (two earned) on eight hits with four strikeouts over 6.2 innings pitched.

The Bison got off to a great start in Florida after taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a RBI-double by sophomore Jake Stemmerich (Greensburg, Pa./Greater Latrobe).

Bethany was able to give Gross enough of a cushion with a four-run third inning. Sophomore Neil Woods (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) drove in a run with a double, followed by RBI hits by Stemmerich, sophomore Tyler Frazee (Markleysburg, Pa./Uniontown) and freshman Tyler Alworth (Brackenridge, Pa./Highlands).

Eastern Nazarene broke through with a run in sixth and plated two more runs in the seventh, but Woods came on for the one-out save with the game-tying run at the plate to help the team secure the win.

Woods also led the team at the plate with a pair of hits and a pair of runs scored, while Stemmerich finished with two RBI

Game 2: Bethany 12, Eastern Nazarene 11 - Final/8 innings

A pinch-hit walk-off base hit by sophomore Alex Martin (Sound Beach, N.Y./Miller Place) capped off a come-from-beyond win and helped the Bison earn a two-game sweep over Eastern Nazarene.

Eastern Nazarene jumped out to a 10-2 lead, before the Bison rallied from behind to tie the game at 10 in the sixth inning.

Following a scoreless seventh inning, the two teams headed into extra innings. The Lions pushed across a run to take an 11-10 lead in the top half of the eighth, but three-straight hits to open the bottom of the inning, including a RBI base hit by junior Ryan Nickerson (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach) that tied the game up.

After Eastern Nazarene intentionally loaded the bases up with no outs, Martin delivered a base hit up the middle to drive in the winning-run and secure the victory.

The Bison finished with 16 hits in the contest, with a quartet of players notching multi-hit performances. Frazee led the way with four hits, two RBI and two runs scored. Nickerson was the top run-producer, tallying a pair of hits and a team-high four RBI in the win. Stemmerich also added three hits and two RBI in the win, while junior Kelaen Welch (Follansbee, W.Va./Brooke) chipped in two hits.

Freshman Isaac Wengert (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) earned his first-career win. He allowed one run on four hits with a strikeout in a pair of innings in releif.

The Bison are back on the diamond tomorrow, Sunday March 12 when they play Gettysburg in a non-conference double-header in Florida.