Wabash's early 4-2 lead over DePauw vanished in a six-run third inning for the Tigers. The Little Giants lost 16-7 to their arch-rivals Wednesday night at Mud Hollow Field.
The Tigers drew first blood with back-to-back two-out doubles in the opening inning to take a 1-0 lead. Wabash responded with three hits in the bottom of the first, capping the effort with an RBI single by sophomore third baseman David Seibel to tie the game at 1-1. (View photos from the game here and here.)
The Little Giants added three more runs in the second after a DePauw home run in the top half of the inning. Tanner Coggins started the rally with a single to center. After a Derek Bailey sacrifice bunt sent Coggins to second, Brian Lares stroked a single past short to put runners on the corners. Wabash head coach Cory Stevens took a chance with a suicide squeeze, and the gamble paid off big. Coggins came home on the bunt by PJ Tyson. The throw to first came inside the base, causing a collision between Tyson and Tiger first baseman Rob McPike. The baseball came sailing out of McPike's glove, allowing Lares to race around the bases to add an additional run on the play.
Wabash could not take advantage the breaks provided, surrendering six runs on four hits, two walks, a hit batsman, and an error in the top of the third. DePauw added three more runs in the fourth before the Little Giants answered with three runs in the fifth on another RBI single by Seibel and a two-run single by Lares to get to within four runs.
DePauw added four runs in the seventh and an extra in the ninth on the way to its 14th victory of the season.
Chris Deig went 3-for-5 at the plate to pace the Wabash effort. Seibel and Lares each had two hits and two RBIs, which finished with 12 total hits in the game. Matt Dodaro added another hit to his career totals, placing him one away from tying Jay Dee Flynn for the all-time Wabash record of 166. Jake Thomas also collected a hit, giving him 158 for his career.
Mike Korfhagen worked three innings in the loss. He gave up 10 hits and 10 earned runs with four walks and three strikeouts. Brian Van Duyn threw four inning of relief with four earned runs on three hits with a walk and four K's. Luke Zinsmaster pitched the final two innings with three hits and one earned run along with a walk and two strikeouts.
Wabash (6-11) heads north Thursday afternoon for a single nine-inning contest against Purdue University. The first pitch against the Division I, Big Ten team is set for 4 p.m.
Photos - (Top left) PJ Tyson crosses the plate to give Wabash an early 4-2 lead against DePauw.
(Bottome right) Freshman Chris Deig led Wabash with three hits.