Wabash rebounded from a heart-breaking 4-3 loss in game one at Wittenberg to take 16-7 win in the series finale, earning the Little Giants their first trip to the North Coast Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament.
The Saturday split gives Wabash (18-16) a 9-5 league record heading into Sunday’s conference doubleheader against Earlham at Mud Hollow Field. Ohio Wesleyan holds a one-game lead over the second place Little Giants with a 10-4 mark. OWU plays Wittenberg at home Sunday afternoon. Wabash could win the Western Division of the NCAC with two wins over Earlham and a sweep by Wittenberg against Ohio Wesleyan.
The Little Giants erupted for five runs in the first two innings. Wabash took a 1-0 lead on an RBI double by Matt Dodaro that tied the senior shortstop for the all-time RBI total. He matched the 110 career RBIs by Tom Quackenbush ’88. The Little Giants scored four more in the second of a bases-loaded double by Chris Deig and and RBI single by Jake Thomas.
After scoring another run in third, Wabash broke the game open with a four-run fourth. The big blow came on a two-run triple by Brian Lares, who scored a one batter later on a wild pitch. Wittenberg cut into the 10-1 lead with a three-run fourth, but the Little Giants responded with another four-run inning, starting with back-to-back hits by John Pennington and PJ Tyson. Thomas added another RBI single in the inning, while Lares recorded his third RBI of the contest with a two-out single.
Back-to-back doubles by David Seibel and Lares would score another run in the seventh. Lares would score the last run for the Little Giants on a double play ground ball, giving the team its highest run total in a single game this season.
Mike Korfhagen earned the victory to improve to 3-3 for the season. He pitched six innings, allowing four earned runs and six total on nine hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Keegan Leckrone pitched the final inning, surrendering a run on one hit along with a walk and strikeout.
Thomas collected three hits in game two, as did Seibel and Lares. Deig added two hits and had three RBI in the win.
Wabash never led in game one, trailing Wittenberg 1-0 before John Holm drilled his second home run of the season in the fourth inning to tie the game. The Tigers’ Patrick Williams broke the tie with a two-run homer in the fifth. The Little Giants tied the game at 3-3 when Tyson guided a two-run single to center to score Lares and Derek Bailey in the sixth.
Williams opened the Wittenberg seventh with a single, moving to second on a walk before advancing to third on a ground out by Stefan Kegler. A two-out ground ball by Zach Spring was fielded by Matt Dodaro, but his throw sailed high, allowing Williams to race home with the winning run.
Andy Weeks took the loss in a game that saw the Wabash offense stranded ten base runners. Weeks scattered seven hits while allowing three earned runs over seven innings. He walked four and struck out seven.
Thomas had two of the Little Giants’ seven hits in the first game, giving him a team-best 55 for the season while putting him four hits away from tying his own single-season record of 59 set in 2007.