The teams of Wabash College have been known as Little Giants for around a century.
But on Sunday, the Wabash baseball team took on the role of giant killer, knocking off the number 1 team in the nation, Wooster College, with a 3-2 victory. The win, handing Wooster their first loss of the year, snapped a 27 game winning streak, the longest in the country and Wooster school history. Sunday’s win is certainly the biggest one of the year, and one that shows how competitive this team can really be. “You don’t beat a team like Wooster on a fluke,” said Head Coach Cory Stevens. “It shows our guys that they can compete with anybody.”
Defensively, the Little Giants were led by another stellar performance from sophomore pitcher Joey Niezer, who threw a complete- game two- hitter, giving him his third win of the season. “He’s just so unpredictable. Hitters really have no idea what’s coming next,” said Stevens. “He’s been more consistent. He’s been getting ahead of hitters, which puts him in the driver’s seat. It allows him to throw what he wants to.”
Niezer’s performance was also highlighted by three key defensive plays, including a flipping a ground ball from his glove to senior catcher Scott Hamilton for a tag- out at home. Niezer was named North Coast Athletic Conference pitcher of the week.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Little Giants struck first, when freshman outfielder Kyle Rush reached first with a leadoff single. After a steal and a wild pitch, sophomore shortstop Matt Dodaro drove Rush home with a single into left- center to take a 1-0 lead. Niezer would sit down the side in order in the first before giving up an unearned run off two consecutive ground balls from Wooster. Wabash came right back in the third, when sophomore outfielder Jake Thomas smashed a two-run homer off the scoreboard, giving Wabash all the runs they would need. “We got it done with the bats when we needed to,” said Stevens.
Niezer would hold the Scots at one run until the seventh, when a walk and a hit batsmen would set up Wooster’s Pat Chritensen’s RBI single to make the score 3-2. After the Little Giant batters went down one-two-three in the ninth, the Wabash defense finished strong to ensure the win.
Niezer induced a ground out to the mound before hitting Wooster’s John Quimby to put the tying run on base. Niezer then forced a pop- fly for the second out before hitting Sean Swearingen, giving him his 21st hit batsman of the year, an NCAC record. But Niezer battled out of the jam, getting pinch- hitter Brandon Boesinger to ground out to sophomore second baseman Mike Nowak for the final out of the game.
Stevens, above all, was impressed by the team’s poise on Sunday. “This game shows that, if we don’t hurt ourselves, we can have a lot of success. It’s about limiting walks, limiting errors. When we don’t make mistakes, we play well.”
The Little Giants finished the series 1-2, as they dropped the first two games on Saturday. Wabash, now 11- 20 on the year, resumes play today at 6:00 against Franklin College at Victory Field in Indianapolis, the second Triple- A venue the team has played in during just a two week span.