DANVILLE, Ky. – Spalding opened their season with a double header against Wheaton college. Spalding won the first game by a score of 6-3. Chance Brinley earned the win, while Josh Arevalo was tagged with a loss. Korie Vire earned his first save of the season. Wheaton took the second game in a wild 10-9 affair. Nick Johnson was credited with the win, while Vire took the loss.
                                                        
Jacob Woodruff had a productive day for the Golden Eagle as he finished with two hits, four base on balls, four runs, and two RBI's. Vire made good contact in both games as he earned five hits, two runs, and a RBI.
 
The first game saw a scoreless first two innings. In the bottom of the first Spalding was able to get runners on the corners, but they could not find a way to get them home. In the bottom of the third, Woodruff led off with a walk. He was able to get to third base on an error. After a balk from the pitcher, Woodruff came across the plate to give them a 1-0 advantage. Wheaton would strike back in the top of the fifth. After a walk and a pinch runner was called in, a single advanced him to third. John Mckenna was able to lay down a bunt to get the runner home and tie the game at 1-1. Another base hit would load the bases for Wheaton. An error would bring one home and a walk on the next batter would give Wheaton a 3-1 lead. Woodruff lead off the bottom half of the fifth with a walk, then stole second base. A passed ball got the runner to third. A walk would put runners on the corners before a pitching error brought a run home and put another in scoring position. A single from Kam Bruner saw the man score from second and the game was tied at 3-3. Spalding would break the tie in the bottom of the eighth when Wheaton walked the batter with the bases loaded. Woodruff singled and brought two more runs in and Spalding would lead 6-3 heading into the ninth. Vire forced Wheaton to strand three as Spalding earned the victory.
 
The second game saw the Golden Eagles start quickly as Bruner scratched across a run on an RBI single and led 1-0 after one inning. Wheaton found an answer in the fourth when an RBI single knotted the game up at 1-1. In the bottom of the fifth, Wheaton hung six runs on the Golden Eagles to lead 7-1. It started with a two RBI single from Nick Mailman, then a double down the right field line brought another run in. A fielder's choice was unable to prevent the run from scoring. With the bases loaded, Spalding walked in another run before finally getting out of the inning. Spalding got one run back in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly and trailed 7-2 after six innings of play. The top of the eighth would see Spalding tie the game at 7-7 after scoring five runs on two hits and two errors. The ninth saw Spalding regain the lead at 9-7 after Clay Kelly doubled and was brought home on a single and fielding error. An RBI single got the second run home and they would head into the bottom half up two. Spalding was unable to hold on however, as Wheaton put three runs up including the walk-off single from Evan Ogden's bunt that squeezed the run home.
 
Spalding will be back in action this Sunday, February 28^th when they take on Baldwin Wallace in a double header. First pitch is scheduled for 1 pm and 3:30 pm EST respectively.