GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The fourth-seeded Indiana Tech baseball team clinched a spot in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament Title Game and an automatic berth in the NAIA Opening Round with a 5-2 win over second-seeded Davenport on Wednesday afternoon at DeWitt Field.
Just 40 minutes after falling to WHAC regular season champion Madonna to put the Warriors in an elimination game, Tech got a complete game, two run gem of a pitching performance from junior right hander
Tyler Wells. The Edon, Ohio native allowed seven hits and just one earned run in nine innings of work for his seventh win of the season.
After giving up a leadoff homer to Corey Seymour, Wells would settle in until the third when a pair of errors gave the Panthers runners at the corners with nobody out, but he would get a double play ball to
Mark Carpenter and allow just one run to score.
Peyton Newsome would drive his 10
th home run of the season to left center field in the second to tie the game at one while
Glen McClain would come around to tie the game at two in the fourth after getting on with a single up the middle. A wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt would put the Warriors first baseman at third and Newsom would deliver again as he knocked in his second run of the ball game with a ground out to short.
Tighe Koehring would then deliver the go-ahead runs in the fifth with a two-out two-RBI double to left center to score
Mark Carpenter and
Brian Hakes and double Tech's lead.
That would prove more than enough for Wells as he allowed just three more base runners from the fifth inning on while the Orange and Black added a fifth run in the ninth as
David Barksdale score from third with the bases loaded when the throw from short went high as
Kyle Mead reached on a fielder's choice.
Koehring and Newsom would each finish with two hits and two RBI's while McClain also collected a pair of hits.
Tech (38-17) will face off with top-seeded Madonna on Thursday at noon from DeWitt Field for the WHAC Tournament title. The game (or games should Tech win the first one) tomorrow will have no bearing on the postseason as the Warriors claim the conference's second automatic berth to the NAIA World Series Opening Round based on the Crusaders regular season title and their berth in the title game. Links to live stats and video will be available at IndianaTechWarriors.com.
