Spearheaded by two strong pitching performances from Kyle Wisniewski and Kellen Ingram, the baseball program at Shawnee State picked up three victories over the past weekend as the Bears swept Wright State-Lake (4-3, 15-9, 6-3) in a trio of games played between Saturday and Sunday.
Between the three contests, Shawnee State was also aided by another good offensive output, pounding out 27 hits at the plate while scoring 25 runs between the three games -- averaging nine hits and 8.3 runs per game, respectively. The Bears have now scored five or more runs in 18 of their last 22 games dating back to Feb. 20.
Wisniewski, Ingram continue to deliver on mound
Having pitched consistently well all season long, the duo of Kyle Wisniewski and Kellen Ingram continued firing darts over the past weekend while giving Shawnee State a chance to deliver optimal results in Games 1 and 3.
Wisniewski, the team's ace, fired a six-inning gem by striking out 13 batters and only allowing four hits to Wright State-Lake. In doing so, Wisniewski also didn't allow an earned run to cross the plate -- helping SSU establish a 3-1 lead through six complete, which proved to be crucial as SSU held off a late Wright State-Lake charge for the win.
As for Ingram, the freshman continued his strong campaign by firing a complete game four-hitter in the Bears' 6-3 victory over the Lakers in Game 3. Wright State-Lake scored three runs in bottom of the seventh inning, but Ingram never lost his poise, ultimately fanning 10 batters in the victory. The Kings Mill, Ohio native posted his strong performance all while battling difficult weather conditions throughout the affair.
Ingram (2.92 ERA) and Wisniewski (3.77 ERA) have struck out 107 batters while walking only 43. The duo have combined for a 2.5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio as a result and are a combined 7-6 in decisions in their 15 starts on the season.
Kline, McGuire, Boggs, Rodriguez lead offense
Continuing their productivity at every opportunity, Jacob Kline, Danny McGuire, Kyle Boggs and Howie Rodriguez were strong throughout the series against Wright State-Lake.
Boggs' double in the second inning of Game 1, along with a single by Kline that scored McGuire in the third frame of action, allowed Shawnee State to take an early 2-1 lead after three innings of work. Rodriguez then scored on an error in the fifth, and Boggs, back up again in the eighth, produced the decisive run after drawing a walk to score Levi Jones.
In the second contest, Rodriguez singled home the game's first run by driving in McGuire. The remainder of the offensive production, from then on, was a takeover by Kline and McGuire.
Following the second frame, where an RBI single by McGuire and a two-RBI single by Kline allowed the Bears to take a 5-2 lead after two innings of work, Kline added in a RBI single while McGuire produced two runs off of an error as part of a five-run third that pushed the SSU advantage to a 10-2 count.
Kline then capped off the Game 2 victory by holding off a late Wright State-Lake charge with another RBI single in the fifth and a three-run homer in the sixth frame of action to cap off the scoring by directly contributing to four of SSU's final five runs as part of a masterful 3-for-5, seven-RBI performance at the plate.
In Game 3, the quartet rounded out their efforts by coming up large in the fifth frame. All four players produced an RBI in the decisive four-run fifth, with Rodriguez's RBI infield single and Boggs' RBI single to right field being the key hits in the difference-making frame that led to the 6-3 win.
NEXT UP
The Shawnee State baseball program (16-11) is off to its best start to a season in 19 years behind the direction of third-year head coach Phil Butler and third-year assistant coach Casey Claflin. The last team to win 16 games before the 27th game on its schedule was the 2002 SSU squad.
Shawnee State returns to Mid-South Conference play with a three-game set at Thomas More beginning Friday, April 2 at 2 p.m., followed by a Saturday doubleheader at Noon in Crestview Hills, Ky.
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