FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The No. 1-seeded Indiana Tech baseball team opened up postseason play Thursday as they defeated No. 5-seeded Lawrence Tech, 28-0, and No. 4-seeded Concordia (Mich.), 9-5, in their opening games of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament at Warrior Field.
 
The Warriors struck early and often in their first game against Lawrence Tech as they scored seven runs in three different innings while seven players connected for home runs in the 28-0 win, a new season high in runs. Dominic Giuliani started things off in the second with a two-run blast to left to start the rally, while the Orange and Black tacked on five more runs in the frame, and scored all seven runs with two outs on the board. Tighe Koehring had the other big blast in the inning with a two-run bomb to right.
 
Dante Biagini capped the second seven-run inning for Tech in the fifth with a grand slam to right center, while the tournament hosts used just two hits in the inning to score the runs, taking advantage of five walks and a pair of LTU errors in the frame. The regular season WHAC champions added to their total in the ninth with seven more runs as Branson Dossen launched a grand slam to left while Kelvin Flores followed him up with a solo shot to right center and scored the 28^th run of the ball game for the Warriors and eliminated the Blue Devils from the tournament.
 
Charles Dunavan improved to 3-0 on the season after throwing six shutout innings, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out four. Bobby Bennett and Dillin Diehm also had long balls for Tech while Biagini drove in a team-best six runs, with Dossen tallying RBI's in the game.
 
The nightcap of day one proved to be a more competitive game, but the Warriors again took an early lead off a Koehring RBI single in the first. Concordia tied it up at 1-1 in the second off a suicide squeeze bunt play, but a Diehm single and Matt Bandor double gave Tech a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the frame. The Cardinals cut the deficit to 4-3 in the fourth with two outs after three consecutive singles and a Tech error, but back-to-back blasts from Bandor and McClain pushed the lead up to 6-3 in the sixth while back-to-back doubles from Koehring and Ryan Meisenheimer made it a 7-3 contest in the inning.
 
The visitors tacked on single runs in the seventh and ninth, but never threatened the Warrior lead as Tech moved comfortably into the driver's seat with a 2-0 record on the day after the 9-5 win.
 
Dan Shaw picked up the win after throwing 3.1 innings in relief while Bandor went 3-5 at the dish with three RBI's. McClain and Giuliani also had three hits each and combined for three RBI's.
 
Tech (40-17) will face off in a rematch with Concordia on Friday in the championship game of the Indiana Tech pod of the WHAC Tournament. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. from Warrior Field.