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Luke Probasco shined in his first appearance in the
Division III Baseball Championship. |
By Jim Dixon
D3sports.com
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – Buena Vista walked off a winner in its
first appearance in the Division III Baseball Championship, as
Michael Hoffman's single brought Dylan Case in with the winning run
to give the Beavers a 5-4 win.
"I was sitting fastball and got one down the middle and did what I
should do with it," said Hoffman.
The single capped an eventful ninth inning in which Buena Vista
coughed up the lead before coming back to win.
Kyle Dupic, who had come on in relief of Luke Probasco with the
Beavers leading 4-2, hit Andrew Eichstaedt with a pitch to lead off
the inning. Closer James Stone came out of the bullpen and gave up
two quick singles to load the bases. After a double play brought
Eichstaedt in to cut the lead to one, Jared Fon fouled off several
pitches before dumping a single into right field to bring in Rob
Coe to tie the game.
"I tried to slow everything down," said Fon about his at-bat. "I
just kept battling."
The blown save ruined a strong pitching performance for Probasco,
who started and went 7-2/3 innings, allowing two runs on 10 hits
before giving way to Dupic with two runners on. Dupic got the final
out of the eighth by striking out Daniel Putnam to end the
threat.
"I don't try to think so much," said Probasco. "I am a ground-ball
pitcher and am successbul when I get ahead of the batters. Lucky
for me. I have a good defense behind me."
| Mike Hoffman smacks a single up the middle to give
Buena Vista a 5-4 win against
UW-Whitewater. Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com |
Buena Vista started the scoring with a run in the second. Kevin
Kloewer singled to center field and moved to second on Joe
Paletta's single. A balk put both runners in scoring position and
Steve Eddie called for the suicide squeeze. Andy Compton's bunt
down the first base line scoring Kloewer.
UW-Whitewater came back with a scoring inning of its own in the
next inning. Daniel Putnam tripled to right-center and scored on an
Eichstaedt sacrifice fly. Two batters later, starting pitcher Jeff
Donovan singled. Brent Young drove the ball to the base of the left
field wall for a double and a 2-1 Warhawks lead.
The Beavers retook the lead in the next two innings. In the third,
Case doubled to right and moved over on Brad Blum's groun out.
Brock Yossi brought home Case with a fly ball to right. Kloewer led
of the bottom of the fourth with his second hit of the game, a
double to left center. Ryan Scheetz moved the runner with a
sacrifice and Kloewer scored on Paletta's groundout.
In a wild seventh Buena Vista added to its score. Paletta walked
and ended up on third following two Warhawk errors on Compton's
sacrifice bunt. Donovan fielded Dylan Colo's bunt but nobody
covered first giving the second baseman an infield single and
loading the bases for the Beavers. after a fielder's choice, Blum's
single to center drove in the inning's only run.
"I was a tough game," said UW-Whitewater head coach John
Vodenlich. "We battled back but the loss was a failure on our
ability to defend the bunt."
"It is a whirlwind being here for the first time," said Buena
Vista head coach Steve Eddie. "we saw what Illinois Wesleyan did
last year and thought last year we were close. We have a lot of
seniors here and want to be here as long as possible."