Bekier, Wichlacz Help Owens Baseball Improve To Six Games Over .500

Bekier, Wichlacz Help Owens Baseball Improve To Six Games Over .500
Posted: Apr 02, 2016

By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

New Carlisle, Ohio—The bat of Jake Wichlacz (Eisenhower/Macomb, Mich.) and the arm of Robbie Bekier (Cardinal Stritch/Toledo, Ohio) propelled the Owens Community College baseball team to a 6-0 win over Clark State Community College today.

With the win, Owens improves to 11-5 overall. The second game of the doubleheader was postponed after one of Clark State's student-athletes was injured on a play, and it will be made up at a later date.

After a scoreless first two innings in which Bekier allowed just two singles, the Owens offense scored the game's first two runs in the top half of the third.

Following singles from Casey Gose (Genoa/Genoa, Ohio) and Ty Suntken (Wauseon/Wauseon, Ohio), Owens got back-to-back RBI singles from Zach Souter (Huron/Huron, Ohio) and Wichlacz to take a 2-0 lead.

Bekier then retired the next six batters he faced to set up a three run fifth for Owens. Gose walked, stole second and scored on a wild pitch for the first run. Suntken walked, stole second and scored on a throwing error, and Souter singled and later came around on an RBI groundout from Wichlacz.

Wichlacz then belted a solo home run in the seventh inning to give Owens a six run lead before Bekier struck out the side to finish the game.

Wichlacz finished 3-for-4 with a run and three RBI, while Souter was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Gose added two runs. 

On the mound, Bekier improved to 2-1 this year with a final line of seven innings, three hits and 10 strikeouts.

Notes

Both teams are scheduled to play twice more tomorrow with the first game beginning at 12 p.m.

Clark State is in its probationary year in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC), so today's games don't count in the OCCAC standings. They only count towards overall standings.

Bekier lowered his season ERA to 3.52 with the shutout. Wichlacz tied Gose and Eric Hotchkiss (Bedford/Lambertville, Mich.) for the team-high in RBI at 17. With his stolen base, Gose now has 11 this year, which matches his total from all of last year.