A David Seibel single in the fourth inning of game two led Wabash to a 3-2 victory over DePauw, ending a 19-game winning streak by the Tigers while giving the Little Giants their 22nd win of the season.
The victory was the first for Wabash baseball team since a 7-5 win by the Little Giants on April 27, 1999 in Greencastle, Indiana. Current DePauw head baseball coach Matt Walker was the losing pitcher in that contest. Despite the long string of wins by the Tigers, Wabash still maintained a 136-129-2 edge in the overall series coming into Wednesday’s doubleheader.
Seibel’s two-out, two-run single was the first hit of the game for the Little Giants, who were blanked to that point by Tiger starter JB Blanchard (0-3). Wabash finished with two hits in the game, picking up a second in the sixth inning by Chris Deig.
PJ Tyson opened the fourth with a walk before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt by Deig. Jake Thomas was hit by a pitch put runners on first second for Matt Dodaro, who hit a bounding ball toward short. Tiger fielder Ben Gardner knocked the ball down but threw the ball away to bring Tyson home with the first run of the game. A passed ball moved Thomas and Dodaro to second and third to set the table for Seibel.
"This was a good doubleheader for us to prepare for this weekend," head coach Cory Stevens said. "We knew we would face a very good team with two excellent starting pitchers, just like we will this Saturday in the first two games of the conference tournament. We got this monkey off our back today. Now we can focus on Wooster."
Wabash used three regular starters throughout the game. Andy Weeks worked the first two innings, holding the Tigers to one hits and one walk. Mike Korfhagen pitched the next two innings, earning the victory while also allowing only one hit and one walk while striking out one batter. Brian Van Duyn gave up one earned and one unearned run in an inning-and-a-third on two hits and four walks.
Keegan Leckrone ended the DePauw threat in the sixth after the Tigers already scored twice and had the tying run on third by forcing Gardner to fly to left to end the inning. Leckrone picked up his fourth save of the year by retiring three of the last four hitters in the seventh with a two-out walk as the only base runner of the inning.
The Little Giants had a chance to take both games, but could not come up with a timely hit in the first contest. Wabash stranded 11 base runners, including in three bases-loaded situations. The Little Giants put three runners on in the second on a walk and two singles with one out, but a double-play ground ball ended the threat.
DePauw (22-17) scored two runs in the fifth inning on a two-out, bases-loaded single by Taylor Hoffman. Wabash broke through in the scoring column in the ninth inning when Derek Bailey’s bases-loaded walk brought Tyson home with the only Wabash run before a strikeout in the final at-bat ended the game.
Seibel collected two of the Little Giants’ seven hits in game one, as did Tyson. Luke Zinsmaster took the tough-luck loss, falling to 1-2 for the year. The rookie pitcher worked five innings, allowing two runs on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Andrew Swart threw an inning of one-hit relief.
Wabash (22-17) will play at the College of Wooster Saturday afternoon in two nine-inning contests in the first round of the 2009 North Coast Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament. The first pitch is slated for noon.