For the second game in a row the Wabash baseball team mounted a ninth-inning comeback. This time the effort would fall short in a 7-6 loss to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Sunday afternoon at Mud Hollow Field.
The Little Giants trailed 7-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning before exploding for four runs on only four hits. Freshman Travis Stirling opened the inning with a double to left center, moving to third on a single by Bobby Ritz. John Brauchie brought home the first run of the inning in the next at bat with a pinch-hit single to left center to score Stirling and send Ritz to third.
Kyle Rush lifted a fly ball to center to score Ritz on the sacrifice fly. After a ground out recorded the second out of the inning, sophomore Matt Dodaro slammed his fourth home run of the season over the left field fence to cut the lead to one run. The Pioneers turned to reliever Jay Lindner for the second night in row after the Little Giants had tagged him with a loss in an 11-inning affair Saturday evening. This time Lindner hit Jake Thomas to bring the winning run to the plate, but Lindner induced a ground ball to end the inning and the game.
Wabash scored its first two runs in the seventh inning on back-to-back singles by Thomas and Jake Lee to open the inning. Thomas scored on an error by the UWP shortstop before Lee came home one batter later when Mike Nowak singled past third base.
The Little Giants were silenced for much of the game at the plate, picking up only one hit through the first six innings. Wabash finished with 10 hits in the contest, led by two each by Dodaro, Thomas, and Stirling.
Andy Weeks suffered his third loss of the season after working 3-1/3 innings and giving up four runs. The sophomore left-hander struck out five, but walked seven batters while surrendering just three hits. Chris Schmaltz scattered four hits over 4-2/3 innings with no walks and five strikeouts while giving up one earned run. Tom Norman worked the final inning of relief, striking out three with a walk and a hit for two earned runs.
Wabash (4-9-1) returns to action Tuesday afternoon with a nine-inning contest against Anderson University at Mud Hollow at 3 p.m.