Wabash fans could only watch as a 2-0 lead against Dakota State disappeared in the strangest ending to a baseball game, allowing the Trojans to rally for a 3-2 victory. The Little Giants dropped the first game of the doubleheader against DSU 7-0 in Chandler, Arizona.
Little Giant sophomore Andy Weeks battled throughout game two, working 6-2/3 innings in the loss. He scattered five hits, giving up three in the bizarre bottom of the seventh. Weeks also walked three while striking out one Trojan batter. (View photos from the Little Giants' loss to DSU.)
Wabash scored both of its runs in the third inning. David Culp led off with a double, moving to third on a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Rush. A single by Matt Dodaro scored Culp for the first run of the game before Dodaro eventually added the second on a Travis Stirling single after Jake Lee drew a walk.
Weeks allowed only two hits through six innings, but after the left-hander recorded the last out of the sixth inning, umpires moved the game from Snedigar Field #4 to nearby Field #1 due to the setting sun blinding the batters at the plate. Wabash went down in order in the top of the seventh, bringing the Trojans to plate for the last time in the ball game.
Pinch-hitter Nick Hardy opened the seventh with a ground ball to third, but the Little Giants committed one of their four errors in the game by throwing the ball away on the throw to first. Second baseman Bryan White then lifted a routine fly ball toward right field for what appeared to be the first out of the inning. But the same sun that was in the batters' eyes on Field #4 was now in the eyes of the Little Giant outfielders. No one came up with the pop up, which settled in the outfield grass to put runners on first and second with no one out.
Centerfielder Jeff Savas then squared around to bunt, bringing the Wabash infielders crashing toward the plate. At the last second he slapped the ball past the infielders, loading the bases on the single. A ground ball to second by the next batter appeared to produce the first out of the inning, but the umpire in the field said that shortstop Matt Dodaro had been pulled off the base on the fielder's choice during a collision with Savas, who was called safe while the first run scored for Dakota State.
Wabash finally recorded an out on a ground ball to Dodaro, who got the out at home on a fielder's choice to keep the bases loaded. But Matt Burpee lifted a fly ball to right on the next at bat, scoring Savas for the game-tying run.
The Trojans' Ryan Breitling stepped to the plate and promptly singled through the left side of the infield to score the game-winning run and keep Dakota State undefeated at 14-0.
Errors led to the first loss by Wabash at the hands of the Trojans on Thursday afternoon. The Little Giants committed six miscues in their 7-0 defeat, wasting solid effort by starting pitcher Chris Schmaltz. The sophomore yielded only four earned runs out the seven total scored by the Trojans on 11 hits. Schmaltz struck out six and walked only one player. Wabash would scratch out only three hits in the game --- a triple by Culp, a single by Dodaro, and single by Scott Hamilton.
Wabash falls to 2-5 with the pair of losses. The Little Giants continue their spring break play in the Phoenix area with a pair of nine-inning games against Rutgers-Camden and William Paterson on Friday.