Spartan Pitchers Strike Out 16 in 4-3 Win over Johnson & Wales

Spartan Pitchers Strike Out 16 in 4-3 Win over Johnson & Wales

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Case Western Reserve University junior pitchers Tyler Stillson and Zach Barnes combined to strike out 16 hitters, and graduate student first baseman Eli Westrick collected four hits to lead the Spartans to a 4-3 win over Johnson and Wales University at the Spartan Southern Classic in Lexington, South Carolina, on Friday afternoon.

The Spartans improved to 8-5 with the win, while the Wildcats dropped their third consecutive game to fall to 2-7 for the season.

Stats & Standouts

  • Stillson finished the game with a career-high 12 strikeouts over seven innings of work, allowing just one run on six hits to improve to 3-0.

  • Barnes pitched the final two innings of the game and picked up his first save of the campaign, giving up two runs on three hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

  • Westrick went four-for-five with a triple, two runs scored, and an RBI, and is now batting a team-best .423 this season.

  • Senior center fielder Jasiah Harris added a one-for-four day with three runs batted in.

  • Senior catcher Sean Donahue was two-for-four with a double and a stolen base.

  • Nine different Spartans collected at least one hit in the game, as the team finished the contest with 13 total hits.

Highlights & Scoring Recap

  • Johnson and Wales got on the board with a run off Stillson in the top of the second.

  • The Spartans trailed by a run until the bottom of the fifth, when the team scored three runs to take the lead. Sophomore third baseman Calvin Gelle reached on an error to start the inning, and eventually came around to score the game-tying run on a base hit by Westrick with two outs. After a double by senior right fielder Matt Trout put two runners in scoring position, Harris plated both with a single up the middle, giving CWRU a 3-1 advantage.

  • The Spartans added on a run in the bottom of the seventh when Westrick tripled to center field and scored on a groundout by Harris.

  • The Wildcats loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but with the potential go-ahead run at the plate, Barnes struck out the next two batters to keep the three-run lead intact.

  • Barnes surrendered a two-run home run in the ninth, but was able to hold on to pick up the first save by a CWRU player this year.

Spartan Notes

  • The 16 strikeouts by CWRU pitching on Friday were tied for the third most in a game in program history.

  • Stillson has now had 10 or more strikeouts in three of his four starts this season. He has a 0.96 ERA with a .190 opponents' batting average and 41 strikeouts in 28 innings this year.

  • Gelle has now reached base safely in each of the 12 games he has played in this season.

  • With his four hits on Friday, Westrick now has 193 for his career (the first 182 of which came as an undergraduate at Wooster).

  • Westrick's four-hit game was the first by a Spartan this season.

  • CWRU improved to 2-0 all-time against Johnson & Wales, including a 16-4 in seven innings last year.