Moline, Ill. - Brendon Pashia's bases loaded single in the bottom of the ninth lifted DePauwto a 6-5 win over St. Scholastica in game five of the NCAA Regional.
With the victory, DePauw improved to 25-19, while the Saints were eliminated from the tournament and finished the season at 30-12. The Tigers return to play at Swanson Stadium on Saturday at Noon against the winner of tonight's Buena Vista/St. Thomas (Minn.) game.
Robbie Stein led off the DePauw ninth with a double down the left field line and Zach Starrwas intentionally walked. Collin Henry reached on a fielder's choice after an error on his bunt attempt. Pashia then stepped to the plate and delivered the game-winning hit.
St. Scholastica opened the scoring in the second as Jordan Risse and Jake Kuschke drew two-out walks before Brian Minks single to left scoring Risse.
DePauw collected its first hits of the game in the bottom of the third as Michael Hartnageldoubled with two outs and scored on Stein's two-bagger. Starr knocked in Stein with a single to left.
The Tigers added two more in the fourth when Connor Einertson doubled with one out and moved to third when Ryan Grippo reached on an error. Ryan Allee's groundout to second plated Einertson before J.B. McCallum drove in Grippo with a single down the left field line.
The Saints came back in the fifth as Brian Minks led off with a single to right center and stole second. Padraic Getchell's single to left center moved Minks to third before Austin Colvarddelivered a run-scoring single to left.
DePauw extended its lead to 5-2 in the sixth as Grippo led off with an infield single and moved to second on McCallum's grounder. Grippo moved to third when reliever Thomas Rogers threw a wild pitch. Hartnagel then followed with a single to center that brought homeGrippo.
St. Scholastica's Brian Minks led off the seventh with a walk before Colvard singled to right. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch and Minks scored when Trevor Bernsdorf grounded out.
Tyler Henderson reached on a leadoff walk in the Saints' half of the eighth and moved to second on an error on a failed pickoff attempt. Parker Olson drew a walk and Risse advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt. Pinch-hitter Bret Moody reached on a fielder's choice afterMcCallum threw out Henderson at the plate. Minks followed with a single to right that scoredOlson and cut DePauw's lead to 5-4. Getchell then reached on an infield single and Moody came home on an error on the play.
DePauw totaled 13 hits with Hartnagel, Stein, Cory Meixner, Pashia and Einertson each collecting two. The Saints finished with eight hits as Minks had three followed by Colvard andGetchell with two apiece.
J.T. Timmer improved to 3-1 after pitching two innings of shutout relief. Rogers dropped to 2-2 with 2 1/3 innings of relief.