May 9, 2013

Upsets the rule in OAC tourney

More news about: Mount Union | Otterbein
Players congratulate Sean Kettering after his bases-clearing double and eventual run.
Otterbein athletics photo

Otterbein kicked off the 2013 OAC Tournament in impressive fashion Thursday afternoon, defeating host and top-seeded Marietta by a score of 7-1. The win snaps an eight-game losing skid against the Pioneers, who clinched the OAC regular-season title last week. No. 4 Otterbein advances to the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament against No. 3 seed Mount Union. The Purple Raiders came from behind to defeat second-seeded John Carroll, 7-3, in the nightcap.

Penn State Behrend defeated Pitt-Greensburg 9-3 in their first game of the AMCC Tournament. The Lions jumped out to an early lead and never looked back en route to knocking off the Bobcats for third time this season. The highlight of the tournament was Mount Aloysius's Derrick Capiak. Capiak threw a no-hitter to lead Mount Aloysius to a 3-0 win over La Roche. Capiak allowed just two base runners, both on walks to the second and third batter he faced in the game.

Martin Luther advanced to the UMAC Postseason Tournament with a 5-2 win over Northland in the UMAC play-in game. Joe Janke carried the Knights on the mound, pitching all nine innings and striking out 13 while allowing just the two runs on four hits and one walk. At the plate, the Knights finished with ten hits, and also took advantage of four Northland errors that led to four unearned runs.

Manchester escapes an upset bid with this play at the plate.
Manchester athletics photo

A key defensive plate in the ninth inning spurred Manchester past Defiance during the opening day of the 2013 HCAC Championships. Left fielder Cody Schell, coming up throwing after Chris Donese singled with two outs, threw a perfect strike to Elliot Ford. Ford got in front of the plate just as Ryan Kohlhofer slid in, tagging him out on a bang-bang play to preserve the 7-6 win. Third-seeded Franklin joined the top-seeded Black and Gold in the winner’s bracket, toppling second-seeded Anderson 12-6. Scott Windler drilled three hits and scored two runs, while Zach Oskowski added two hits and two runs scored to guide the Grizzlies.

Senior right-hander Ryan Yates tossed 7.2 innings of three-hit shutout ball while striking out four to lead Southern Maine past the Keene State 4-0 in Game Five of the Little East Conference Tournament at USM Baseball Stadium. The Huskies will play the winner of the game between Eastern Connecticut State and UMass-Boston.  The ECSU-UMB game was halted due to darkness in the fifth inning with ECSU leading 9-0.  That game will be resumed tomorrow. The Owls are eliminated from the six-team, double-elimination tournament.

The third-seeded Thomas More defeated second-seeded Thiel, 14-1, in the opening round of the PAC Championship Tournament hosted by Washington & Jefferson. With the win, the Saints will play top-seeded Washington & Jefferson , a 14-3 winner over St. Vincent.

Dan Kluss set a Northern AC tournament record with 14 strikeouts.
Concordia (Ill.) athletics photo

Dan Kluss threw a Northern Athletics Conference Tournament record 14 strikeouts as Concordia (ill.) won the opening game of the 2013 tournament, 6-3, over Wisconsin Lutheran. The other top seeds also won as Aurora edged Rockford, 1-0, and Benedictine topped host Concordia Wisconsin, 7-5, at Kapco Park. Kluss' 14 Ks bested the previous record of 13 set by Rockford's Fabian Gomez back in 2007, and went the distance in the top-seeded Cougars' victory over the Warriors.

Wooster advanced to the championship game of the NCAC Tournament with a pair of decisive victories, 11-3 against Oberlin in the opener and 10-2 over Allegheny in the winners bracket at VA Memorial Stadium. During the winners bracket match-up, the Fighting Scots batted around during a five-run third inning and added three more during the fourth for a 9-1 lead, which was ultimately the difference in the eight-run victory.