Auburn, N.Y. – The seventh-seeded Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops (29-17) beat the second-seeded Ithaca Bombers (29-12) in Wednesday’s fourth and final game of the NCAA Division III baseball regional tournament hosted by Ithaca College at Auburn’s Falcon Park. The Battling Bishops advance to play third-seeded Rensselaer Thursday at 7:45 p.m. The Bombers face Farmingdale in an elimination game Thursday at 1:15 p.m.
The Battling Bishops withstood an Ithaca rally in the bottom of the ninth inning that saw the Bombers score two runs and put the go-ahead run on second with no outs before Ohio Wesleyan’s defense turned two straight stellar plays.
With the bases loaded, sophomore catcher Steve Ruygrok fielded a chopper, stepped on the plate and threw to first to complete the double play. Ithaca’s next batter lined a shot off the foot of senior pitcher Joey McDaniel that senior second baseman Jerrell Johnson fielded in time to throw the runner out at first to end the game.
Senior first baseman
Eric Ferguson (Columbia/East Greenbush) led off by reaching on the first of two Ohio Wesleyan ninth-inning errors and sophomore outfielder
T.J. Abone (Rome Free Academy/Rome). After pinch hitter
Allan Kartholl (John Jay East Fishkill/Fishkill) reached on an error that allowed
Ferguson to score and junior outfielder
Matt Samela (Staples/Westport, Conn.) walked, freshman third baseman
David Ahonen (Victor/Farmington) singled in a run.
McDaniel, who started the game as Ohio Wesleyan’s designated hitter, earned his second save by picking up all three outs in the ninth. Senior
Sean Speed picked up the win and improved to 8-3.
Ithaca’s fifth-inning run tied the game but Ohio Wesleyan scored four sixth-inning runs to break the game open. Four straight Battling Bishop batters drove in runs after senior outfielder Brent Wilkins singled and senior first baseman A.J. Dole walked to lead off the inning. Freshman outfielder Scott Wise and Ruygrok hit RBI singles, Johnson brought in a run with an infield grounder and McDaniel capped the outburst with a run-scoring single.
Ferguson and Wolf both had two hits for the Bombers. Samela singled in Abone in the fifth for the Bombers’ first run.
