Wallace College - Baseball Press Releases

Wallace holds on to defeat Darton	2009-02-11
Adam Oliver pitched like a sophomore with a year’s experience under his belt. Tyler Claburn came on to preserve the victory. These two pitchers were just part of the reason the Wallace Govs were able to climb above the .500 mark in the early baseball season.
The Govs jumped out to an early three run lead Wednesday afternoon against the Darton Cavaliers at Westgate Park. But in the end they had to hold to claim the 4-2 victory. “We got good pitching and some timely hitting,” Wallace coach Mackey Sasser said. “We left too many men on base, but we are getting there. We are a young team and we are still learning.” In his six innings of work, Oliver struck out six, gave up five hits, and only allowed one run. Claburn pitched the final three innings to earn the save. The Govs got their offense in gear in the bottom of the second inning when they scored three runs. Zigmond Vanderwall led off the inning with a double to the gap between left and center field. Two batters later with Vanderwall now on third base, Matt Gannon struck out. But it was a wild pitch, allowing Vanderwall to score and Gannon to reach base. Gannon later scored on an RBI single off the bat of Chris Sasser. Later in the inning Sasser scored on yet another wild pitch off losing pitcher Jamie Rednour. Oliver was cruising along until he began to run out of gas in the sixth inning. That’s when he gave up two hits, including an RBI double to Tagg Lanier. The Govs got that run back in the bottom of the inning. Vanderwall led this inning off with a bunt single. He later scored on Chris Sasser’s second RBI single of the game. The Cavaliers plated single runs in the eighth and ninth, and had opportunities in both innings to score more. But each time Claburn was able to pitch out of trouble. “Our goal right now is just to get better,” Coach Sasser said. “We are preparing ourselves for conference play. “ Weather permitting, the Govs are scheduled to play in a round-robin even this weekend in Andalusia.