The Wabash baseball team opened the 2005 season with a two-game series sweep against Wisconsin Luthern as part of the Little Giants’ trip to Florida. Wabash took a 7-0 shutout win in game one, then rallied from one-run deficits twice in game two before coming away with a 3-2 win in ten innings.
Billy King (Peoria, AZ/Peoria HS—Glendale Comm. College) had the game-winning RBI in game two. King singled home Jon Elwardt (Naperville, IL/Naperville Central) after the freshman opened the bottom of the tenth with a single, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Scott Hamilton (Indianapolis, IN/Bishop Chatard). Elwardt tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, sending the game into extra innings when Patrick McCarley (Vina, AL/Vina) scored after entering the game as a pinch runner. Phil Ramos (Zillah, WA/Zillah) led off the seventh with a single before being sacrificed to second by Nick George (West Lafayette, IN/Harrison). McCarley entered the game for Ramos and advanced to third on a ground out by Nick Pompeo (Warren, OH/Howland) before the game-tying single by Elwardt.
Wabash trailed 1-0 after a home run by the Warriors in the top half of the fourth inning, but evened the score at 1-1 after a Jared Bogan (Struthers, OH/Struthers) double and an RBI single by Ramos.
Jared Tarney (Ft. Wayne, IN/Bishop Dwenger) came on in relief of Jon Horne (Cincinnati, OH/St. Xavier) to earn his first win of the season. Tarney worked two innings of no-hit baseball, striking out three while walking one batter. Horne threw eight innings, giving up only one earned run on eight hits with one walk and seven strike outs.
Ramos was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Elwardt and King both had two hits in four at bats. King also had a walk and two stolen bases.
King went 2-for-3 with three runs scored and a stolen base in the first contest. He gave the Little Giants a 1-0 lead in the top half of the first inning after leading off the game with a double down the left field line and scoring on a single by Bogan that was mishandled by the Warriors’ left fielder. Wabash would never trail in the game behind the six innings of work by Travis Moore (Crawfordsville, IN/Crawfordsville) on the mound. The junior right-hander threw six innings of shutout baseball, allowing only five hits while striking out nine against two walks and two hit batters. Nick Rico (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Vista) worked the final inning in relief of Moore, holding the Warriors hitless with a walk and a hit batsman.
Bogan finished the game 3-for-4 from the plate with an RBI double and his first home run of the season. He lifted a shot over the center field fence in the seventh inning after freshman David Culp (DeKalb, IL/DeKalb) sent King home with an RBI double one batter earlier. Culp went 2-for-4 in his first college contest. George was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with one RBI.
Wabash continues its Sun Coast trip Monday morning with a 9:30 a.m. doubleheader against Monmouth College from Illinois.