UPLAND, Ind. – The 3 seed Indiana Tech baseball team defeated 5 seed Shawnee State 9-3 before falling to 1 seed Taylor 22-10 in the NAIA Opening Round Championship Game.
Shawnee State took a 1-0 lead in the first. An RBI single by
Garrett Rainey in the third tied the game at 1-1.
Jorge Santana was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fourth to give Tech a 2-1 lead. Sacrifice flies by
Ben Morrison and
Garrett Rainey made it 4-1.
The score remained 4-1 until the eighth. An RBI double by
Ben Morrison put Tech ahead 5-1. A wild pitch made it 6-1, and a two-RBI single by
Derek Ruiz gave Tech an 8-1 lead. An RBI single by
Brycen Hannah made it 9-1.
Shawnee State scored two runs in the ninth, but Indiana Tech secured the 9-3 win.
Brycen Hannah and
Noah McEldowney each had three hits.
Ben Morrison,
Garrett Rainey, and
Derek Ruiz each drove in two runs apiece.
Kail Baughman got the start and the win, allowing three runs in 8.2 innings.
Colton Leatherman got the final out to secure the win.
Taylor scored six runs in the first inning of the championship game to take a 6-0 lead.
A grand slam by
Jack Ferguson cut the lead to 6-4. A solo home run by
Brycen Hannah made it 6-5.
Taylor scored four runs in the second to make it 10-5. Taylor scored four more runs in the fourth to make it 14-5.
An RBI double by
Dane Richards and an RBI fielder's choice by
Ben Morrison cut the lead to 14-7.
Taylor scored one run in the sixth and four in the seventh to take a 19-7 lead and would go on to cruise to a 22-10 victory to secure a spot in the NAIA World Series.
Ben Morrison and
Brycen Hannah each had three hits.
Jack Ferguson led Indiana Tech with 4 RBI.
Indiana Tech used six pitchers in the loss.
Noah Redmon got the start and took the loss.
Danny May,
Kaden Plank,
Andrew VanOeveren,
Gary Glaser III, and
Keegan Miller pitched in relief.
Indiana Tech finishes the season 43-17.
