Wabash claimed its first-ever North Coast Athletic Conference baseball title Saturday with a 5-2 victory over Ohio Wesleyan.
Chris Widup worked 8-1/3 strong innings on the mound while the Little Giant offense scored five first-inning runs in the win. Luke Zinsmaster came on in the ninth inning in relief of Widup, closing out the game with a strikeout to give the Wabash the title.
The conference title is the first for the Wabash baseball team since joining the NCAC in 2000 and is the first overall conference tournament title since the Little Giants won the 1998 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament. Wabash is the first school other than Ohio Wesleyan or Wooster, two of the four teams to make this year's NCAC tournament field, to win the NCAC Championship. Wooster has won the league title 13 times, including the 2009 and 2010 titles. Ohio Wesleyan has claimed 10 conference titles, with its latest coming in 2007 and 2008. Allegheny is the only other school to win an NCAC baseball championship. The Gators won outright titles in 1993, 1997, and 1999 after sharing the first league championship with Wooster in 1985.
With the victory, Wabash earns the conference's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Division III baseball tournament. The Little Giants will be appearing in the tournament for the first time in school history.
"This is really exciting," Head Coach Cory Stevens said. "We've got a great group of guys who have battled throughout the season. Everything came together at the right time. We've peaked at the right time. We've tried to stack our schedule with great competition from the beginning of our schedule to the end, and it's really paid off.
"This is such a great step for this program. Everyone who has played baseball is a part of this, not just the guys on our roster right now. Wabash baseball has taken this one step at a time over the years, and now to break through with this NCAC championship and to earn the school's first NCAA tournament berth is gratifying."
Widup retired all three Ohio Wesleyan batters with strikeouts in the first inning, part of eight total strikeouts in the game for the sophomore righthander. The Battling Bishops hit a solo homer in the third inning and another in the eighth inning for their only runs of the game. Widup scattered five other OWU hits in the game. The only other threat he faced in the game came with two outs in the second inning when a single to left by Nathan Strome brough Tim Knezovich to the plate. However, Wabash leftfielder Montana Timmons threw out Knezovich trying to score to end the inning.
The Little Giants opened the first inning with an infield single by Chris Deig. An error on a ground ball by John Pennington put runners on first second, leading to two runs on a Timmons double down the left field line. Tanner Coggins followed with the third hit of the inning to put runners on the corners. PJ Tyson's RBI single scored Timmons and set up a two-run double by Joe Johnson when the senior blasted a pitch to the left-center field wall.
The five runs would prove to be all Widup needed to record his fifth victory of the season.
Wabash advanced to the tournament championship game as the number three seed. The Little Giants opened with a 17-9 victory against Ohio Wesleyan on Thursday night, followed by a 3-2 win Friday against top-seeded Wooster to earn the berth in the championship game.