ADRIAN, Mich. – The Ithaca College baseball team staved off elimination on Friday afternoon at the NCAA Adrian Regional as the Bombers posted a 5-4 walk-off victory in the 12th inning against No. 2 seed Otterbein College at Nicolay Field. Ithaca is now 29-16 on the season and awaits the loser of No. 1 Wooster and No. 5 Shenandoah tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.
Junior Webb Little drove in the game-winning run, which was sophomore Andrew Wollner, with an infield single to shortstop in the bottom of the 12th. The Otterbein shortstop slipped on the play as he needed to readjust due to a wet playing surface, which allowed W. Little to beat out the throw with a head first slide.
Otterbein jumped on Ithaca early with two runs in the top of the first inning on two hits. After the first out of the game was retired on a fly out, back-to-back singles by the Cardinals started the rally. Another fly out was recorded, but a runner moved up on the play, and then a balk brought him in from third. The second run scored on a throwing error during the next at bat.
The Cardinals added another run in the second inning on three straight hits. A one-out double came around to score after singles to center and left field. After the second out was recorded, junior Emmett Dunn exited the game for senior Tyler Hill with two runners on.
Hill induced a fly out to left field to get out of the jam.
Ithaca got two runs back in the bottom half of the second on a two-run double by senior Domenic Boresta to left-center with the bases loaded. Junior Sam Little led off with a base hit and fellow junior Matt Carey followed up with a walk. Freshman Jack Lynch loaded the bases with a single up the middle to set up Boresta's double.
The Bombers then tied things up at 3-3 in the third on an RBI base hit by S. Little, which plated W. Little from second base. W. Little led off the frame with his second hit of the day and moved into scoring position on a hit-and-run.
IC had a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth with runners on the corners, but the Bombers were unable to push a run home.
Otterbein followed suit in the top of the seventh with runners on first and third with one out. A Cardinal hitter sent a fly ball to centerfield for a potential sacrifice fly, but Carey launched a perfect throw to the plate to gun down the runner and preserve the 3-3 tie.
In the bottom of the ninth, S. Little ripped a two-out triple to the right-center gap but could not reach home to end the game. The Bombers threatened once again in the bottom of the 10th as Lynch and Boresta walked and moved into scoring position, but a groundout ended the inning.
In the 11th, Otterbein led off with a triple and then took the lead with a base hit up the middle. The Bombers answered in the bottom half on a two-out base hit by Carey to bring home W. Little.
W. Little started things off with a base hit, and after two outs were retired, he moved into scoring position on a wild pitch to set up the game-tying RBI from Carey.
After a 1-2-3 top of the 12th, Wollner drew a one-out walk in the bottom half. Boresta was then hit by a pitch to put two runners on. Otterbein went to the bullpen and preceded the throw a wild pitch to advance Wollner and Boresta. The Cardinals recorded the second out of the inning via strikeout before W. Little ended the game.
W. Little went 4-for-7 with two runs scored, while S. Little was 5-for-6. Boresta, Carey and Lynch also collected multi-hit games for IC.
Senior Jack Morello picked up the win in five innings of relief to improve his record to 5-3. Morello struck out seven batters and allowed one run on five hits. Fellow senior Tyler Hill also turned in a stellar relief performance as he tossed 5.1 scoreless innings with five hits allowed.
Junior Emmett Dunn started the game for IC but gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits in 1.2 innings of work.
If the Bombers win tomorrow morning's game at 10 a.m., they will play again at 7:45 p.m.