June 2, 2023

Day 1: JHU, BW, ETBU, Lynchburg win

Jordan Hara was one of four ETBU hitters who had two or more hits.
Photo by Doug Sasse, d3photography.com
 

When you have a rain delay of an hour and 45 minutes, you're going to have a 10:35 start time for Game 4. It's practically unavoidable.

That's where we end up the night on Day 1 of the 2023 Division III baseball World Series, with Lynchburg and UW-La Crosse going late under the lights, where Lynchburg survived to win 8-6 in a game that lasted after 1 a.m. CDT.

Misericordia got it done early by stealing bases, moving guys over and generally making Johns Hopkins make plays, on a day in which Johns Hopkins will end up in the record book for most errors in a D-III World Series game. But the Blue Jay bats came alive in the bottom of the eighth, as the No. 1 team in the country scored six runs, including Sam Frank sliding in ahead of the Misericordia tag on a play which was ruled an out on the field but was overturned on video review. Frank's run gave JHU the final tally in a 10-5 win.

Johns Hopkins tied the D-III World Series single-game record with eight errors, and Misericordia added three more for a total of 11, which also tied the D-III World Series mark set by RPI (8) and Cal Lutheran (3) in 1996. The updated record book is linked below.

Baldwin Wallace put up eight runs in the fourth inning and made it hold up, as the Yellow Jackets defeated Endicott 13-9. The Gulls scored three in the eighth and three more in the ninth to make it close. The top of the order went 8-for-16 with seven runs scored and four RBI for BW.

East Texas Baptist ace Sayers Collins struck out 13 batters, including coming back out for two more innings after the long delay, and the Tigers' postseason run continues with another first -- their first D-III World Series win. ETBU beat Salisbury 7-3.