Danker's Walk-Off Double Lifts Wentworth Past Albion

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – For the second consecutive day, junior Ben Danker (Branford, Conn.) provided the late-inning heroics as his one out, two-run double in the bottom of the ninth inning capped off a three-run rally and lifted Wentworth to a 6-5 win over Albion.

The Leopards, winners of three straight, snapped a scoreless tie in the home half of the third inning when senior Pete Oggeri (Sandy Hook, Conn.) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and sophomore Joe Meucci (West Hartford, Conn.) drove in a run with a fielder's choice.  The Britons cut the lead in half in the sixth inning on an RBI double from freshman Adam Mazza (Macomb, Mich.) which plated sophomore Josh DeLara (Clinton Township, Mich.).

Two innings later Albion took a 4-2 lead, as senior Abe Belanger (Coldwater, Mich.) and senior Joe Mueller (Brighton, Mich.) each had RBI singles and senior Dan Zech (Rochester Mills, Mich.) drew a bases-loaded walk.  In the home half of the eighth, Wentworth trimmed the lead to 4-3 when Oggeri belted his first home run to left field.

Albion upped the lead to 5-3 in the top of the ninth on an RBI single off the bat of sophomore Chuck DeClarke (Holt, Mich.) which would score freshman Nick Frank (Coloma, Mich.).

Wentworth opened the top of the ninth with a junior Mike Diodato (Asbury, N.J.) walk.  Diodato moved to second on a wild pitch, and after a strikeout, junior Doug Papuga (Branford, Conn.) was intentionally walked, junior Matt Jordan (Concord, N.H.) hit a single to right to load the bases.  Diodato scored on a wild pitch, which prompted the Britons to intentionally walk Oggeri to load the bases.  On the first pitch Danker saw, he laced a double to right center to give Wentworth a 6-5 win.

Sophomore Kyle Cruz (Burlington, Conn.) earned his first career win after pitching the ninth inning, where he allowed a run on two hits.  Freshman Ross Hall (Gregory, Mich.) took the loss, allowing three runs on two hits while walking three in a third of an inning.  Wentworth sophomore starter Adam Farrar (Newport, Vt.) went 5.2 innings and allowed one run on four hits while striking out a career-high nine.  His counterpart, sophomore Doug Counterman (Burlington, Mich.) went eight innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits and struck out five.

Offensively for Wentworth (3-2), Oggeri and Danker each had two hits and two RBI while Papuga scored a pair of runs.  Mueller had three hits for the Britons (1-3) while Mazza, DeClarke, and Frank each had two hits.