WILMORE, Ky.--- In a back-and-forth nine inning affair, Asbury baseball (6-10) slipped to Ohio Wesleyan University (6-2) on Wednesday night in Wilmore, 9-8., at Cecil Zweifel Field.
Offense ruled the evening as the two teams combined for 25 hits in their first ever meeting. Ohio Wesleyan (OWU) led the way with 13 hits compared to Asbury's 12, scoring 17 runs combined.
The AU defense came to play with only one error compared to OWU's four. OWU left seven runners on bases while Asbury left nine.
Junior righty
Eli Wilder got his first career start for AU and went 5.0 innings giving up five earned runs and striking out two. Asbury relievers
Jack Morris and
Ethan Cartwright each added an inning of scoreless work, Cartwright striking out two.
Offensively it was
Noah Brown and
Ethan Cartwright leading for Asbury, each producing three hits in the game. Brown knocked in a career-high tying three RBIs and scored two runs as well. Cartwright scored a run and stole a bag.
Jackson Cole went 2-4 to continue his offensive success, driving in two Eagles as well.
OWU jumped on the board early with three runs in the first off three hits. The Battling Bishops scored another in the second, extending their lead to 4-0.
Asbury responded in the second with hits from Cartwight and Brown leading to three runs, 4-3. After another zero from
Eli Wilder AU tied things at four in the fourth inning,
Noah Brown sliding in safely at home on a wild pitch.
Z. Vitense hit a ball ove rthe left field wall in the fifth that was brought back in by Asbury left fielder
Quinn Nobles, unable to come up with the catch making it a two-out double. Vitesne was driven in for OWU's fifth run of the game, taking them ahead 5-4.
Asbury's biggest inning of the game came in the bottom of the sixth when they used four hits including doubles from
Kaden Dugle and
Colton Perkins to score four runs. AU took the 8-5 lead over OWU heading to the seventh.
OWU responded in the seventh with a four-spot of their own, taking the lead back at 9-8. The Bishops' righty out of the bullpen, Joe Liss was abled to earn his third win of the season as AU did not score a run off him the final three innings.
Asbury grounded into a double play in the eighth that OWU used to hold onto their lead.
AU moves to 6-10 on the season after dropping their first matchup with Ohio Wesleyan.
"We are continuing to develop and grow day after day. We started really well but we have to play good baseball for nine innings."
Manny Cervantes | Asbury Head Coach
* Asbury defense committed only one error
* AU led the game 8-5 in the seventh
* Both teams combined for 25 hits
*
Noah Brown | 3-4, 3 RBI (TCareer-High), 2 R
*
Ethan Cartwright | 3-5, R
*
Jackson Cole | 2-4, 2 RBI
*
Jack Morris | 1.0 IP, 0 ER
Asbury will now host MUW in a home weekend series in Wilmore starting with a doubleheader on Friday at 4 pm.
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