AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Wartburg baseball opened the 2024 season with a 12-4 win over Grove City College at the RussMatt Invitational on Sunday, Feb. 25.
Game Summary
- First Inning
- After a scoreless top half, Grove City got on the board first in the bottom half
- Second Inning
- Third Inning
- Grove City tied it back up in the third
- Fifth Inning
- Zach Walton tripled and then scored on a balk to give Wartburg a 4-3 lead
- The Knights added another run after Noah Day brought Stubitz home
- Sixth Inning
- Wartburg added another run after Walton drove in Gray to make the score 6-3
- Seventh Inning
- Wartburg stretched the lead to 9-3 after Caleb Andrews hit a two-RBI triple and then scored himself after a passed ball
- Eighth Inning
- Sam Nicolino hit a three-run homer in the eighth to put Wartburg ahead 12-3
- Grove City added one run in the bottom half to cut the lead to eight
- Ninth Inning
- Will Armstrong closed the game with a 1-2-3 inning on the mound in bottom of the ninth
Top Performers
Coaches Comments
"I'm really proud of this team's effort to open the season by beating a 4-0 team that won 30 games last season," said head coach
Casey Klunder. "I credit the win to our guys' high energy and high level of character."
Klunder spoke on pitching from today's contest, "Boehmer did what veteran do and got us to a win today, despite not having his best stuff today and in relief we had veteran arms come in, including some good innings from
Max Hansen."
Will Armstrong returned to play after a health scare earlier this school year, "
Will Armstrong closed out the game for us on the mound in the ninth," continued Klunder. "It was so great to see him playing baseball"
"Nicolino is a wonderful young man and it was great to see him get rewarded with a home run after all the work he's put in," said Klunder.
Next Time Out
Wartburg continues play at the RussMatt Invitational Monday, Feb. 26 against Alma College at 1:15 p.m. eastern time and then later against Houghton University at 4:30 p.m. eastern time.
