MONTGOMEY, Ala. – The No. 2-seeded Indiana Tech baseball team saw its season come to a close Wednesday afternoon in the NAIA Opening Round – Montgomery Bracket at Harrison Field, as they defeated No. 2-seeded Webber International in 11 innings, 3-1, before falling to the host, No. 1-ranked and No. 1-seeded Faulkner in 13 innings, 10-7, in the championship game.
Tighe Koehring put the Warriors ahead against Webber International with a solo homer to center in the bottom of the second, but the visiting Warriors tied the game up at 1-1 in the next half inning with a solo shot of their own. The two offenses were quiet for the next few innings with just six combined hits and 10 base runners until the bottom of the 11
th as
Taylor Nychyk delivered a two-out RBI single to score
Glen McClain and send Tech into the championship game of the Opening Round for the second consecutive season.
McClain finished the game 2-5 while
Charles Dunavan went 7.1 innings on the mound in the no-decision, allowing just one earned run while scattering four hits and striking out five.
Joe Pratt picked up the win after going the final 3.2 innings in relief, allowing just one hit and striking out three.
The Orange and Black found themselves in a 4-0 hole after an inning of play against Faulkner in the championship game thanks to a sacrifice fly and a three-run homer, but the Warriors responded with a pair of runs in the top of the second to cut the deficit to 4-2. A single from
Tighe Koehring and a double from
Ryan Meisenheimer tacked on two more runs for Tech as they made it a 5-4 game.
Trailing 6-4 in the sixth, the Orange and Black got things rolling as Javier Castandea led off the inning getting hit by a pitch while
Dante Biagini reached on a walk. McClain gave the Warriors their first lead of the game two batters and two outs later with a three-run bomb to left to make it a 7-6 contest.
The number one team in the country broke through the Warriors pitching staff in the bottom of the 13
th as they won the Opening Round on a three-run walk-off home run and cap the 10-7 victory.
Koehring finished the game 3-6 with two runs while McClain and
Reese Olden each had two hits.
Tech finishes the season with a record of 44-21.