Marymount rolls in tournament opening win

Cabrini collected a key 8-4 victory this afternoon over No. 2 seeded Immaculata University in day two of the Atlantic East Conference Tournament. Today's victory means the Cavs avoid playing in Friday's first elimination game and instead will face No. 1 seeded Marymount University at 3:30pm.
Cabrini athletics photo


Marymount University opened the 2021 Atlantic East Conference postseason in resounding fashion on Wednesday afternoon with an 18-4 victory over the fifth-seeded Wesley College Wolverines. The game was secured early for the No. 1-overall seed after the Saints exploded for a whopping 14 runs in the bottom of the third inning. MU's outburst marked the most runs ever scored in one inning in program history. Marymount showcased stellar patience at the dish during the onslaught, as five walks pushed across five scores. Singles from Ryan Lee, Casey Baker, Ryan Maylie and Bill Wojcik pushed the Saints lead to 11-0. Bryce Smith added a double that made it 12-0 before and Bobby Leitzel laced a two-run single through the right side of the infield to wrap up the barrage. With plenty of run support behind him, Ryan Bergenhagen went to work on the mound for the Saints. The senior allowed just one hit through four innings of work and struck out six batters. MU's bullpen followed Bergenhagen's strong start with four shutout innings over the remainder of the contest. Kenny Sysyn struck out a pair of batters in one inning of work while Kyle Lewis and Clint Wheeler each rang up one strikeout.

Curtis Sheahan was the enforcer. Sheahan, a hard-throwing 6-foot-4 senior left-hander from Madison, Wis., pitched a five-hitter with eight strikeouts and two walks through 7 1/3 innings as the fourth-seeded Carroll University baseball team defeated fifth-seeded North Park University 6-2 in the opening round of the College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin Tournament at North Central College's Zimmerman Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. With the statement-making first-round victory, Carroll advanced to face top-seeded regular-season champion and No. 9-ranked North Central in a second-round matchup at Wheaton College's Lee Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream, Ill. on Thursday at 11 a.m. North Central outlasted eighth-seeded Wheaton 8-7 in another contest Wednesday.

Top seeded Adrian College took on the No. two seeded Hope College Flying Dutchmen. In an extra inning battle, the Bulldogs came out ahead in 13 innings after an AJ Miranda walk off single to win 6-5. Pierce Banks went seven innings for Adrian, allowing four runs on seven hits with six strikeouts. His fourth strikeout of the game broke the Adrian College record for career strikeouts with 298. Jacob Hanoian came on in relief for Adrian and was lights out through 4.1 innings.

James Palmer and Jace Baumann combined for a shutout, UW-Stout's defense turned two double plays and threw out three batters attempting to steal and Dan Deis and Drew Reis drove in a run apiece as the Blue Devils defeated UW-Oshkosh, 2-0, in the first round of the WIAC Baseball Championship, presented by Culver's, Wednesday, at Nelson Field. Stout (22-17) advances to the next round of the WIAC tournament at Whitewater and will play top-seeded UW-Stevens Point, Friday. UW-La Crosse defeated UW-Platteville 11-10 in 10 inings and move on to face UW-Whitewater.

Just ask John Carroll University Baseball. The Blue Streaks snuck into the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament with a 12-8 win on Sunday in Game 4 of the weekend series with Otterbein, having lost the previous three games. And on Wednesday, the Blue Streaks showed they belonged. Mitchell Midea led a hungry JCU squad to Ada and emerged with an 8-3 conquest of No. 3 seed Ohio Northern. The Strongsville native mowed down a whopping 15 Polar Bears, the most strikeouts in a game by a JCU pitcher since Matt Fort fanned 16 Baldwin Wallace batters on April 2, 2008. Seniors played a critical role as the fifth-seeded Heidelberg University defeated fourth-seeded Baldwin Wallace University in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament. HU won 7-3 and advances to Thursday's semifinal round. HU travels to Alliance to face the No. 2 seed, Mount Union. On the other side of the bracket, No. 6 John Carroll travels to No. 1 Marietta. Both games are scheduled for 4 p.m. starts.

Only four teams now remain in the 2021 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs, as Saint Mary's and Bethel emerged victorious in Wednesday's play-in contests. The No. 3 seed Cardinals topped No. 6 Concordia, 6-1, in Winona, while No. 5 Bethel upset No. 4 Saint John's, 16-8, in Collegeville. Saint Mary's advanced on to the double-elimination round of the tournament with a 6-1 victory over Concordia on Wednesday afternoon. After Sean McGuire's single to center field put the Cobbers on top, 1-0, in the sixth, the Cardinals answered back with five runs in the bottom of the inning. All-MIAC first baseman Will Matthews doubled into right-center to score two and put the Cards on top, while SMU shortstop Joey Costello punctuated the scoring by driving home runners in the sixth and eighth innings. Jonathan Cieminski tossed the final 3.2 innings for Saint Mary's, allowing a single hit and striking out seven en route to the victory. No. 5 Bethel bounced back from a 3-0 deficit after two innings on Wednesday to defeat No. 4 Saint John's, 16-8, and advance on in the MIAC Playoffs.

Salve Regina University scored a 7-1 victory against Salem State University in an tune up for both teams as they both have earned bids to the upcoming playoffs. The win was keyed by a four-run third inning and a three-RBI afternoon for graduate student and catcher Dylan Ketch. Both teams employed seven pitchers in the nine-inning contest as Finn Doherty earned his first collegiate win (1-1) for the Seahawks while Viking starter Jimmy Burton was saddled with the loss. Salve Regina (13-4-1) twice scored runs on failed pickoff attempts by Salem State pitchers as only two runs were earned against the Vikings (13-9). The Seahawks improve to 5-3 in the all-time series with the Vikings and have won the last three meetings. Today was the first meeting since 2017 (an 8-3 win for Salve Regina) and the third time they have played in Salem, Mass. The first two encounters in the series were back-to-back years in St. Petersburg, Fla., during spring break trips in 1995 and 1996.

Penn State Behrend battled back from a 9-4 game-one
loss to defeat La Roche 6-4 in game two and forcing a
game three in the 2021 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate
Conference Championships held on Wednesday.

Penn State Behrend athletics photo

A relief pitcher scoring the game-winning run on an RBI single by a pinch-hitter is not a normal end to a baseball game but that's exactly how Central College defeated Nebraska Wesleyan University Tuesday, winning the American Rivers Conference tournament play-in game in the 10th inning. Central (14-25) advances to the first round of the American Rivers Conference tournament, playing in the Cedar Rapids pod Thursday. The Prairie Wolves end their season at 12-28. After pitching 2.2 inning of relief, Ryan Riddle found himself in a position he had never been in during a varsity game in college. He was scheduled to be the leadoff batter in the bottom of the 10th inning. He was cruising on the mound and did not want to be replaced if the two teams went another inning so he stepped into the batter's box. "Ryan came here as a two-way player," coach Matt Schirm said. "It's been a while since he's hit in in a game but it's something he's done well in the past so I figured he'd have a competitive at-bat." Riddle slashed a ball up the middle and shortstop Aaron Nichols misplayed it, allowing him to reach on an error. A sacrifice bunt by third baseman Quinn Miller moved him up to second. Two batters later, Collin Lefeber walked to the plate as a pinch hitter and found a hole beyond the middle infielder's reach to drive in Riddle as their teammates poured out of the dugout to celebrate.

Wesley entered Tuesday's play-in game as the 5th seed in the Atlantic East tournament knocking off 4th seeded Neumann in an 8-3 victory. With a four run rally to start the game the Wolverines never let off the gas as they continue to drive runs across the plate throughout the game. But the three double plays they turned was what really shut down the knights offense. Justin Blunt, Sam Courtney, Jacob Meisel, and Alexander Weber all came through with two hits a piece. Courtney and Weber both banged out doubles, Dustin Sutton contributed a first inning triple and Meisel and solo shot in the 7th. Cole Davis threw a 9 inning complete game victory adding 7 strike outs to his season.

After meeting for three games over the weekend, Wheaton (Ill.) and Carthage met again on Monday afternoon in the CCIW Tournament Play-in game. After taking two of three over the weekend from the Firebirds (16-25), the Thunder left no doubt in Monday's outcoming, erupting for eight runs in the opening two innings before cruising to a 12-4 victory. With the victory, Wheaton (16-25) advances to the double elimination CCIW Tournament, beginning on Wednesday with an 11 am matchup against top-seeded North Central. Wheaton and North Central will serve as co-hosts for this year's CCIW Tournament. Wheaton scored 12 runs on 15 hits while not committing an error for just the fourth time this season. Carthage scored its four runs on five hits with two errors. Making just his second start of the season, Joe Klein took the win for the Thunder, allowing only one run on four hits in five innings of work while striking out six.

Monmouth College won the opening game of Tuesday's doubleheader 11-1 but they lost game two 11-5 at Knox, ending their season. The games, played in the pouring rain, left the Scots at 15-9 in the Midwest Conference and 17-11 overall. A sweep would have won the Southern Division for the Scots but instead Grinnell and Illinois College tied at 16-8 and IC will play for the MWC title against Beloit. On Monday Monmouth and Illinois College played a rain elayed game with the Blue Boys taking the contest 10-8.