Baseball claims win and tie in twinbill against Gettysburg

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (March 12) – The Bison earned a 3-2 win over Gettysburg College, before the second game was called a 7-7 tie after 10 innings due to inclement weather on Sunday afternoon.

The Bethany College baseball team improves to 3-2-1 overall this season, while the Bullets fall to 0-4-1 on the season.

GAME 1: Bethany 3, Gettysburg 2

An RBI-single by sophomore Tyler Frazee (Markleysburg, Pa./Uniontown) helped the Bison pick up their second walk-off win of the season in the team's 3-2 game one win Sunday morning.

The Bullets were down to their final out in the top of the seventh inning, when an RBI-single plated a runner from second to tie the game at 2-2.

Sophomore Devin Braddock (West Brownsville, Pa./Brownsville) led off the bottom half of the frame with a pinch-hit single. After junior Jacob Miller (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington North) pinch-ran for Braddock and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, sophomore Jake Stemmerich (Greensburg, Pa./Greater Latrobe) was granted a free-pass to setup runners on first and second with one out.

Frazee came to the dish and drove in Miller from second base to deliver a second walk-off win in as many days for the Bison.

Sophomore Neil Woods (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) picked up the win after yielding one run on two hits in an inning of relief. Sophomore starting pitcher Nick Gross (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) earned a no-decision after holding the Bullets to one run on four hits with two strikeouts over 6.0 innings of work.

Frazee led the team with a pair of hits, including a double, and two RBI in the victory. Senior Zach Schlotter (Twinsburg, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) delivered base hits in each of his plate appearances and added an RBI-single in the third inning. Eight of the nine positions in the lineup tallied a base-hit for Bethany.

GAME 2: Bethany 7, Gettysburg 7

The Bison clubbed 21 hits over 10 innings, but inclement weather forced Bethany and Gettysburg to end its second game in a 7-7 draw.

The Green & White opened the game with a three-run first inning, including a two-RBI single by junior Ryan Nickerson (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach), to take the early lead.

The Bullets cut into the Bison lead with a run in the bottom of the first, but sophomore Brandon Wagner (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) helped Bethany build its lead to 5-1 with a two-RBI single in the second inning.

Gettysburg took advantage of a pair of errors in the third inning to help push across five runs and take a 6-5 lead.

The Bison rallied back to take the lead at 7-6 with the help of four base hits, including an RBI-single by Schlotter and a run-scoring fielder's choice by Woods.

Gettysburg knotted the score back up at 7-7 with a trio of one-out singles, but Woods came on in relief and managed to strand the bases loaded to keep the game tied.

The Bison put runners in scoring position in each of the following four innings, but could not come up with a go-ahead base-hit. Meanwhile, Gettysburg had the bases loaded in both the eighth and 10th innings with two outs and were unable to push across a deciding run.

A rain delay forced the two squads off of the field following the top of the 11th inning. The game was officially declared a "tie" following an hour long delay. The final result marked the first tie game at Bethany since a 13-13 draw with Capital on April 24, 2008.

Eight Bison finished the game with multi-hit performances, led by Nickerson, who finished with four hits and two RBI. Schlotter, senior Zack Miller (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin) and junior Kelaen Welch (Follansbee, W.Va./Brooke) each collected three hits, while Stemmerich, Frazee, Wagner and sophomore John Lee (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) all added two hits apiece. Wagner and Woods each matched Nickerson with two RBI in the game.

Freshman pitcher Tyler Alworth (Brackenridge, Pa./Highlands) earned the nod on the bump and allowed seven runs (one earned) on 10 hits with a pair of strikeouts over 5.1 innings of work. Woods and freshman Isaac Wengert (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) combined to throw 4.2 innings of shutout ball in relief of Alworth to keep the game tied.

The Bison will compete in junior varsity competitions while down in Florida over the next three days. The next varsity game is on Thursday, March 16 when Bethany plays a doubleheader against Mount Saint Vincent (New York) at 10 a.m.