FORT PIERCE, Florida — Wabash took a 2-1 lead in the second inning and never trailed from there on the way to a 6-2 win over the Wheaton (Illinois) College Thunder on Tuesday in spring break baseball.
Grant Stratton (1-2) earned the win for Wabash (5-3). The right-hander went 7.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits, allowing one walk and striking out seven. Robbie Manuzzi worked the final 1.1 innings, surrendering one hit and one run with one strikeout.
At the plate, the Little Giants were led by Will Phillips, who went 1-for-3 on the day with a triple, two walks, and an RBI. Michael Galanos also furnished a noteworthy performance, going 2-for-2 with a walk. Camden Scheidt added two walks and an RBI.
The Little Giants were trailing 1-0 in the second inning when they first put runs on the board. Wabash scored two runs in the inning, scoring its first run on a suicide squeeze bunt by Bradley Gilliam to score Will Fremion from third. Caleb Ellspermann drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly to bring home Evan Neukam.
The Thunder failed to push any runs across before the Little Giants’ offense got back to their scoring ways the next inning. Phillips came across to score on a sacrifice fly by Scheidt for the lone run of the inning for Wabash, which extended the Little Giants’ lead to 3-1.
Wabash built its lead to 5-1 in the fourth inning. Fremion and Neukam scored on a wild pitch. Gilliam scored the final run for the Little Giants in the eighth inning, coming home on an RBI groundout by Phillips.
Wheaton (2-7) scored the game’s final run with a solo home run in the ninth inning for the 6-2 final.
