BEVERLY, Mass. — It was a banner weekend for Baldwin Wallace baseball, arguably the greatest the program has ever experienced.
BW swept Endicott in the NCAA Super Regionals to advance to the Division III College World Series for just the second time in team history. The Yellow Jackets earned a 4-2 win on Friday before punching their ticket with a come-from-behind 7-4 victory on Saturday.
It was reliever and CVCA grad Drew Wilson who starred in the first game of the best-of-three series, striking out five over four scoreless innings to pick up his ninth win. He also drove in a run with a single in the ninth, giving Baldwin Wallace (37-11) some much-needed insurance in the final frame.
In Game 2, the Gulls (40-10) raced out to a 3-0 second-inning lead and still held a 3-2 advantage in the sixth, but the Jackets pulled away with a five-spot buoyed by Solon native Ryan Guggenheim's go-ahead homer (just his second of the year) and Vincent Capolupo's three-run double. Endicott fought back to cut the deficit to three and even brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth, but Wilson took the mound again and subsequently shut down six in a row to pick up the save and send BW to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
This is the first World Series appearance for the Yellow Jackets since 2014, when they won their opening game before being eliminated with two straight losses. The eight-team final tournament begins Friday, with BW seeded seventh and taking on No. 2 Eastern Connecticut State at 5:30 p.m. Teams must avoid losing twice in order to advance to the best-of-three championship round.
