Baseball Team Goes Toe-to-Toe with Panthers in Final Virginia Game

The Wells College baseball team completed the third game of a three-game series with the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford on Sunday, March 1 in Virginia.

Wells produced seven hits on the day with four of those netting RBIs.

The Express took the lead with a pair of runs in the third. The Panthers battled back with a pair each in successive innings to go ahead at 4-2, but Wells twice got within a run at 4-3 and 5-4 before Bradford's last team at-bat produced a triple and a pair of runs for a 7-4 final.

Offensively, Kevin Spaeth went 2-for-3 at the plate, collected an RBI and stole a base on the day. Also with a pair of hits for the Express was Jordan VanHerpe.

Defensively, three infielders produced a pair of double plays and the team recorded no errors.

In the top of the third inning, Tanner Dunkel gave Wells a 1-0 lead after Dylan Nolan's single brought him home. Nolan would cross the plate himself for a 2-0 lead after Tyler Young collected an RBI.

Trailing 4-2 in the sixth, the Express cut the Panther lead to 4-3 with an A.J. Nesci single that scored Daniel Santiago. The Express had to settle for leaving the tying-run on third.

Bradford regained its two-run cushion in the seventh, but the Express continued to knock on the door and got within a run again when Mark Yorkey scored from one of Spaeth's two hits.

Chase Sebastian took the loss on the hill after four innings of work. The Express used three pitchers with none giving up more than three hits and collectively producing seven strikeouts. Luke Eitner sandwiched an inning on the mound between Sebastion and Derek Shea, who threw the last three innings with four strikeouts.

The strong defensive play began early with back-to-back double plays in the first and second innings from the trio of Yorkey, Santiago and Cole Murray.

Wells returns home to prepare for its season home-opener against Clarks Summit on March 3 at 4 p.m., after its March 2 game against RIT was moved to March 17.