FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The No. 24-ranked Indiana Tech baseball team moved its winning streak to seven games on Friday afternoon as they swept United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) foe Cleary, 5-4 (F/8) and 8-7, in a pair of seven-inning games at Warrior Field.
Tighe Koehring would give the Warriors the early lead as he drove in
David Barksdale with a single down the left field line in the first to make it 1-0, but the Cougars would need just two at-bats in the next half inning to take a 2-1 lead as Mickey Montpas smashed a home run into Concordia Cemetery across Anthony Boulevard.
Montpas would tack on another RBI in the third as he singled through the left side to make it a 3-1 game while the visitors ended the inning up 4-1.
Dominic Giuliani would cut the deficit in half with an RBI double in the fourth while
Charlie Sipe would plate Giuliani two batters later to make it a 4-3 game.
Tech would continue to chip away at the lead as
Peyton Newsom would drive in Barksdale in the fifth to tie it up at 4-4. Barksdale would be just 90 feet away as the game-winning run in the seventh after
Keith Tatum led off the inning with a double, but would be stranded at third as the game headed in extra innings, the first extra-inning game of the season for the Orange and Black.
Zach Reid would work around a one-out double in the top of the eighth to keep the game tied and set the table for the Warriors. After two quick outs Sipe would draw a four-pitch walk before
Dante Biagini reach on an infield single to set the stage for
Glen McClain, and the reigning Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Player of the Week delivered as he roped a 2-1 pitch to right center to drive in Sipe and give the Warriors the 5-4 walk off victory.
Reid would earn his second victory of the season after throwing four innings of shutout ball in relief, allowing just one hit while striking out four Cougars. Tatum and Biagini would finish the game with three hits each, with the latter recording a pair of doubles.
The hosts would put up a six-spot in the second inning of game two to take the early lead, with
Ryan Tom, Sipe, Biagini, Newsom and
Rico Caravalho all recording RBI's in the inning.
Cleary would come back to take the lead in the fourth though, as they took advantage of four Tech errors to score seven runs while recording just two hits and spoiling
Nick Noe's outing, who allowed just one hit and a walk in 3.2 innings of work.
Kip McWilliams team would respond right away though as Sipe led off the inning with a double and come around to score two batters later to tie the game at 7-7, while McClain smashed a home run to right on a 0-1 count in the sixth for his second game-winning hit on the day as Tech completed the sweep.
Six Warrior had multi-hit games in the night cap while
Jacob Foster allowed just one hit in 3.1 innings of relief to earn his first win of the season.
Tech (23-7) continues their busy weekend Saturday as they host WHAC foe Lawrence Tech, who is in their first season of competition. The two teams will start off their series with a single nine-inning game Saturday with a 3 p.m. first pitch at Warrior Field.
