Late outburst propels Eastern Connecticut State to victory over Baldwin Wallace

CEDAR RAPIDS — A slow start but a furious finish.

After five scoreless frames, Eastern Connecticut State erupted in its final three at-bats for all the offense needed.

The Warriors scored all their runs in the sixth inning and later for a 10-3 victory over Baldwin Wallace in the first round of the NCAA Division III Baseball World Series on Friday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

ECSU (45-3) broke through with a four-run sixth. Jack Rich opened the Warriors’ scoring with an RBI single to chase home Luke Broadhurst. Josh Tower followed with a bases-loaded walk and added two more on an error and wild pitch for a 4-1 lead it didn’t surrender.

Baldwin Wallace (37-12) answered with a run in the seventh, receiving an RBI single from Luke Vonderhaar.

The Warriors added two in the bottom half with RBI singles from Jason Claiborn and Tower. Claiborn produced a three-run triple in the four-run eighth inning.

Claiborn finished with two hits and four RBIs. Rich and Tower also had two hits for ECSU.

Vincent Capolupo led the Yellow Jackets with three hits. Senior Alex Ludwick, the lone member of Baldwin Wallace’s last NCAA tournament qualifier, Vonderhaar and Andrew Parker each had two hits.

Billy Oldham earned his 11th win of the season.

ECSU faces the winner between LaGrange (Ga.) and Trinity (Texas) on Saturday at 7:45 p.m. Baldwin Wallace has the loser of that game for an elimination contest at 4:30 p.m.