Senior Scott Hamilton drilled a one-out single center in the bottom of the 11th inning to complete a comeback effort by the Wabash baseball team in a 4-3 victory over Wisconsin-Platteville Saturday evening. The Little Giants lost a similar come-from-behind effort Saturday afternoon in an 8-6 loss to Tri-State. (View photos from the Little Giants' opener against Tri-State.)
Bobby Ritz reached first with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning on a slow roller toward short before moving to second after John Brauchie drew a four-pitch walk. A single by freshman Kyle Rush loaded the bases for the senior catcher, who was 0-for-5 in the contest smashed the game-winner to center to bring the nearly three-hour contest at Crawfordsville High School to an end.
The Little Giants trailed 3-0 after six innings before scoring two runs in the seventh when Jake Thomas doubled to right, then moved to third on a passed ball before coming home on a Travis Stirling sacrifice fly. Jake Lee had already reached on a walk prior to the RBI fly by Stirling, but moved to second when Shaun Rico lifted a single to center. Lee scored one batter later on an RBI single by Ritz.
Still trailing by a run in last of the ninth, Rico reached on a one-out single before giving way to pinch-runner Eric Carroll. Ritz slapped a ball toward the mound, but Pioneer pitcher Jay Lindner elected to throw to second without either of the Wisconsin-Platteville middle infielders covering the base. Both Carroll and Ritz were safe on the error with Carroll coming to third when the throw sailed into center field. A pop up by Brauchie put the Little Giants up against the wall with two outs, but Lindner bailed them out again when he uncorked a wild pitch to the backstop to bring Carroll home with the tying run.
Mike Korfhagen earned the victory in relief, striking out three of the six hitters he faced while surrendering only one hit. Joey Niezer worked seven innings as the starter, allowing two earned runs on five hits with two walks and three strike outs. Niezer also hit two batters. Dan Metz threw 2-1/3 innings of relief with a hit and four walks against two strike outs.
Ritz was 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored. Rico also had two hits in four at bats, while Thomas was 2-for-5 from the plate.
Wabash fell behind 1-0 in the first inning against Tri-State in the earlier game at Mud Hollow Field before an RBI double by Matt Dodaro scored Rush to tie the game at 1-1. The Thunder added two more runs in the second, but the Little Giants tied the score again on a two-run homer Rico in the fourth. Tri-State rallied for two runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to take an 8-3 lead. Hamilton came on as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the eighth in a similar situation as the night game, delivering a bases-loaded single to score a run to make it an 8-4 contest. The Little Giants plated two more runs in the ninth on a ground out by Ritz and sacrifice fly by Dodaro before coming up short in their final rally.
TJ Siple suffered the loss, throwing 6-1/3 innings while giving up four earned runs, eight hits, and three walks. He struck out six batters. Tony Goodpaster surrendered three unearned runs in 2-2/3 innings, allowing six hits and two walks with one strike out.
Rush was 3-for-4 against Tri-State, while Rico and Thomas one again each tallied two hits in the game.
Wabash (4-8-1) and Wisconsin-Platteville (3-6) meet at noon on Sunday afternoon at Mud Hollow Field.