MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - - The 12th ranked New York Tech baseball team scored 16 of its 17 runs in a three-inning span, taking down Wilmington University, 17-2, on Sunday afternoon on Ebbets Field at the Ripken Experience to close out the 2020 opening weekend.
The Bears (4-0) hit four home runs and put a stamp on the game with a nine-run sixth inning. The Wildcats (1-3) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but were haunted by five errors, eight walks, and two hit batters.
The Wildcats got on the scoreboard first, putting the pressure on the Bears in the bottom of the first inning. Quintin Ivy started the inning off with a single back up the middle. Brock Nowell got a sacrifice bunt down and Ivy was standing on third with one out after a stolen base. Now with two outs, Brooks Ryan beat out a "Baltimore chop" towards second, allowing Ivy to score for the 1-0 lead.
The Bears answered with two outs in the top of the second, scoring an unearned run on an EJ Exposito single down the left field line. That would be the first of many RBI for the Bears' number nine hitter.
After a quiet third inning, the Bears got to work. With two outs and a man on first, Exposito hit his first of two two-run homers on the day, giving the Bears a 3-1 lead. A double and a throwing error in the next two batters put the Bears ahead, 4-1 after the top of the fourth.
Now in the fifth, the Bears collected three straight hits to score the first run of the inning, and then took a 6-1 lead on a sacrifice fly. Expositio stepped up and hit his second two-run homer of the game to give the Bears an 8-1 lead. The Wildcats went 1-2-3 in their turn at the plate in the fourth and fifth innings.
A wild pitch with the bases loaded started the nine-run sixth, followed by a bases loaded hit-by-pitch and then a John LaRocca grand slam to take a 15-1 lead. Another two-run homer in the inning capped the Bears scoring, 17-1.
Cole Cromer came on and pitched two scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth, but the Wildcats were unable to get anything going at the plate.
Mitchell Leslie hit a double to left center in the ninth, and the Wildcats scored a run on a bases loaded wild pitch, but it was too little too late as a ground out ended the game.
Six different Wildcats collected one hit each, as Brooks Ryan had the lone RBI. Matt Warrington took the loss after throwing four innings with four strikeouts, allowing four runs (two earned) on three hits.
The Wildcats have the week off before returning South to start a week of baseball in the Sunshine State. The Wildcats will start the week against Seton Hill on Sunday, March 1 in Lakeland, Florida.
