ADRIAN, Mich.--Sophomore Brady Wood broke a 2-2 tie with a run-scoring double in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Adrian College to a 3-2 victory over Hope College on Friday, giving the Bulldogs a repeat of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament championship. Adrian clinches the MIAA's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship next week, when the Bulldogs will serve as one of the eight regional hosts. More details to come later...
THE BASICS
= Final Scoreline: #1 seed Adrian College 3-5-1; #3 seed Hope College 2-6-0
= Location: Nicolay Field, Adrian, Mich.; Weather Conditions: Cloudy, 44 degrees, Wind ENE 10 mph
= Records: Adrian Bulldogs, 33-10 overall (24-4 MIAA); Hope Flying Dutchmen, 18-24 overall (14-14 MIAA)
= National Rankings: Adrian is No. 29 by American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, 60 points; Adrian is "receiving votes" from D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, 63 points
TOP 'DAWGS
= Freshman Trey Miller pitched three innings of scoreless relief to chalk up his first career victory (1-1). He did not allow a hit while walking one.
= Senior Tommy Parsons, Adrian's No. 1 starter in the rotation, worked the ninth inning to earn his first career save in his first relief appearance of 2018. He retired three of four batters he faced.
= Wood finished by getting two of Adrian's five hits on the afternoon.
THE OPPOSITION
= Evan Maday went 2-for-5 from the leadoff spot.
= Brant Kym had a double and two runs batted in.
HOW IT HAPPENED
= Hope left 13 runners on base and the Adrian defense proved to be resilient.
= The decisive eighth began with a leadoff single by Zack Zschering to left center field. Sophomore Gunner Rainey sacrificed Zschering into scoring position. After an HC pitching change, Wood greeted CJ Otteman with a double to the left field wall to score Zschering for the eventual game-winning run.
= Adrian knotted the score 2-all in the fifth.
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BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
= Adrian is ranked sixth in the final NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Rankings available to the public. The NCAA Division III Baseball Championship Committee will conduct regional rankings this weekend to determine the NCAA tournament field.
= The Bulldogs are now 18-4 lifetime in the MIAA tournament with six titles since the event started in 2012.
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UP NEXT
= Adrian will host the Division III Mideast Regional at Nicolay Field from May 17-21. Pairings and times will be announced on NCAA.com.
#AdrianBulldogs #GoDawgs #BulldogProud (Action photos by Corey Graham/Adrian Athletics)