Baseball Opens G-MAC Tournament With 8-3 Win Over Kentucky Wesleyan

OVERVIEW –  KENTUCKY WESLEYAN

SCORES: No. 1 Northwood Timberwolves 8, No. 8 Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers 3

RECORDS: Northwood (37-16), Kentucky Wesleyan (21-30)

LOCATION: Prasco Park – Mason, Ohio

RECAP: Top-seeded Northwood opens the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Tournament with an 8-3 win over No. 8 seed Kentucky Wesleyan Wednesday (May 10).

GAME HIGHLIGHTS (NINE INNINGS)

• After missing a scoring opportunity in the first inning, Northwood got on the board in the bottom of the second, starting with a David Jeffers RBI groundout.
• Joey Johnston then made it 2-0 on a sacrifice fly to score Carson Longstreth.
• KWC responded with three runs in the top of the third to take their first lead of the day.
• Jeffers tied the score in the fourth with an RBI single, sending the game to the fifth with the score 3-3.
• Northwood manufactured a pair of runs in the seventh, starting with an RBI fielder's choice by Blake Salamon.
• NU then brought home another run on an attempted double steal to end the inning to make the score 5-3.
• Longstreth then provided some insurance in the bottom of the eighth with a three-run homer to left to push the lead to 8-3.
• After allowing three runs in the third, Derek Clark was dominant over the final six innings. He allowed just two hits while striking out six.

GAME STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 8/10/1, Kentucky Wesleyan 3/7/1
• Runners left on base: Northwood 5, Kentucky Wesleyan 2
• Winning Pitcher: Derek Clark – (10-2): 9 IP, 7 H, 3 R (2 ER), 0 BB, 9 K
• Losing Pitcher: Seth Wright – (2-5): 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 5 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Longstreth: 2-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBIs
• Jeffers: 2 RBIs
• Rybicki: 2-5, 2B, R
• Cole: 2-3, 3 R
• Beale: 2-2, 2 BB, SB

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• Clark broke the school record for innings pitched in a season in the game, now standing with 98 2/3 innings pitched for the season. The old record was 97 1/3 innings by Ian Dimitrie from 2017.
• Clark is now the second pitcher in program history to win 10 games in a season, joining Tyler Jandron (12 – 2017).
• With his nine strikeout tonight, Clark now has 101 strikeouts on the season. He is only the second pitcher in program history to reach the 100 mark in a season. Tyler Jandron holds the school record of 102 from 2017.

UP NEXT

• Northwood will face fourth-seeded Hillsdale Thursday (May 11). First is set for 2:30 p.m.