Conneaut falls to Wilmington despite early home run
Apr. 27—LINESVILLE — The Conneaut baseball team lost to Wilmington 13-0 in a non-region matchup on a sunny Friday afternoon.
The Eagles kept up with Wilmington in the early innings but fell behind after a strong showing by Wilmington in the top of the fourth.
"We have objectives that we put on every scorecard for every game," said Conneaut head coach Adam Bronson. "Balls in play, control your attitude and energy, double our hits compared to strikeouts and we met all of those objectives today."
After falling behind 3-0, the Eagles offense came out strong in the third, starting off with a solo home run to left field by Alex Wilpula. That got the blood flowing for Conneaut, which scored two more runs courtesy of Logan Nottingham and Chase Stewart to tie the game at three apiece.
Wipula, Nottingham and Stewart led the way for the Conneaut offense, with all three getting one RBI. Wipula went 2-for-3 at the plate, Nottingham went 1-for-3 and Stewart went 2-for-3, both of his hits being doubles.
"Willy (Wilpula) has been on it this year," said Bronson. "He's been a clutch hitter for us all year and a leader for our lineup."
Gavin White got the start for Conneaut on the mound, and went for four innings, striking out three and walking three. Gregory Klink and Ashton Headley came in for relief.
Despite Conneaut coming back to tie, Wilmington struck back with their own three-run home run in the next inning. By the time the top of the fifth was over, Wilmington had created an 8-3 lead. The Greyhounds wouldn't stop there, getting five more runs over the next two innings to force a mercy rule.
Conneaut got some runners on in their next two innings, but just weren't able to capitalize.
"Wilmington is a great offensive team," said Bronson. "They're a great team all around. When they struck back, we were able to keep our heads in it, but it just wasn't our day."
Conneaut is 2-8 overall and 2-6 in regional games. The Eagles are scheduled to face Franklin at home on Monday at 4 p.m.
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Wilmington 13
(AB-R-H-BI) Brook 4-0-1-1, Dewberry 4-3-4-5, Jones 2-0-1-1, Moore 2-1-0-0, Mitcheltree 1-2-1-2, Zehetner 3-2-2-0, Miller 4-3-3-1, Mikulin 3-1-1-1, Serafino 2-1-0-1. Totals 25-13-13-12.
Conneaut 3
(AB-R-H-BI) White 3-0-0-0, Headley 3-0-1-0, Wilpula 3-1-2-1, Klink 3-0-0-0, Kornman 2-1-1-0, Herr 2-0-1-0, Nottingham 3-1-1-1, Stewart 3-0-2-1, Loucks 2-0-1-0. Totals 24-3-9-3.
Wilmington 111 055 x — 13 13 1
Conneaut 000 300 x — 3 9 0
BATTING
2B: Wilmington— Jones, Miller; Conneaut — Stewart 2.
HR: Wilmington — Dewberry; Conneaut — Wilpula.
PITCHING
(IP-H-R-ER-SO-BB) Wilmington — Heller WP 6-9-3-2-2-1; Conneaut — White LP 4.1-8-7-7-3-3, Klink .2-2-3-3-0-2, Headley 1-3-3-3-0-1.
Trevor Teubner can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at trevor@meadvilletribune.com.
