MARION, Ind. – Baseball defeated both the #2 Indiana Wesleyan and the #1 Oklahoma Wesleyan to stay alive in the NAIA Opening Round.
GAME 1: vs. #2 Indiana Wesleyan
The Warriors were the home team in their match up against #2 Indiana Wesleyan today. Tech started the game with Trevor Patterson earning a walk to get on base before being bunted to second by Jake Ritson. Patterson was on second with two outs when Spenser McGhee hit a ball deep over the fence to score two and give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.
The Wildcats responded almost immediately in the top of the second with two runs to tie the game 2-2 and then took a 4-2 lead after scoring two more runs in the top of the third inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, McGhee started the action with a double to deep centerfield with two outs. Ashtin Moxey recorded a base hit to put runners on first and third. Moxey stole second with Mike Snyder at the plate. Snyder put a ball in play that scored McGhee to get Tech within one (4-3).
In the bottom of the seventh, Yeshua Saint got the bats rolling for Tech with a single to left centerfield before advancing to second. Saint tagged up on McGhee’s fly out to put himself on third with one out. Moxey hit a single that scored Saint before Snyder stepped up to the plate to hit a two-run homerun over the leftfield fence. The Warriors took the lead 6-4 with just two innings left to play.
Indiana Wesleyan scored one run in the top of the eighth before Tech went on a scoring spree in the bottom of the inning. The Warriors recorded six hits in the bottom of the inning and scored five runs to take an 11-5 lead. In the top of the ninth, the Warriors had a pop out, ground out and a big strikeout by Jared Maxfield to earn the 11-6 upset win to eliminate #2 Indiana Wesleyan from the opening round.
Maxfield earned the win on the mound pitching the last five innings with seven strikeouts with Saint pitching the first four innings of the game with three strikeouts. Moxey was 4-for-5 at the plate with two runs and one RBI while McGhee was 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs.
GAME 2: vs. #1 Oklahoma Wesleyan
The Warriors remained the home team for the second game of the day and had a slow start to the second game. Oklahoma Wesleyan jumped out early with four runs in the top of the first inning. Tech battled back and in the bottom of the first inning leadoff batter Moxey got the ball rolling with a double to deep right centerfield. Ritson then singled down the leftfield line before Saint earned a walk at the plate to load the bases with no outs. The Eagles recorded two outs before Snyder hit a single to score both Moxey and Ritson to put the Warriors within two (4-2) after the first inning.
In the bottom of the second inning the Warriors had Jacob Daftari make it to first base and then advanced to second before Moxey earned a walk. With runners on first and second with two outs, Saint hit a ball to shallow centerfield that scored Daftari. McGhee then doubled to right field to score Moxey and tie the game 4-4.
Tech came alive in the bottom of the fourth scoring seven runs with eight hits. Six of the runs were scored on two outs. The Eagles tried to bounce back and scored two in the top of the fifth before Christian De Los Santos hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth for Tech to lead 12-6.
Oklahoma Wesleyan then scored three more in the top of the seventh to get within three (12-9) with just two innings left to play. The Warriors had another solo homer from Snyder in the bottom of the eighth for their 13th run of the game. The Eagles attempted a comeback in the top of the ninth scoring two runs before the Warriors sealed the upset win over the #1 seed in the opening round.
McGhee earned the win on the mound for the Warriors pitching 5.1 innings with five strikeouts while Martin Eckard pitched 1.2 innings with three strikeouts and Kris Massey pitched for 2.0 innings with one strikeout. Saint was 3-for-4 at the plate with one tun and two RBIs while Moxey went 2-for-4 with three runs.
The Warriors have now forced a final game of the NAIA Opening Round at Marion where they will face the #1 Oklahoma Wesleyan at 11 a.m. tomorrow to see which team advances to the World Series.
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