Wright State, UIC, Valpo, Youngstown State advance; Butler, Milwaukee eliminated on day two of baseball championship

2011 Baseball Bracket

DAYTON, Ohio – Butler and Milwaukee are headed home after the second day of the Horizon League Baseball Championship, at Nischwitz Stadium.  Only four teams remain in Wright State, UIC, Valparaiso and Youngstown State.  Two more teams will meet their fate on Saturday and the final two remaining will play for the title on Sunday.

Friday’s action is as follows:

Game 3: (3) Milwaukee 5, (5) Butler 0

Milwaukee’s Eric Semmelheck threw 111 pitches in a complete-game shutout as the Panthers downed Butler, 5-0, in the first elimination game on Friday.  The sophomore struck out a career-high nine batters, collecting the sixth shutout for the Panthers.

The offense also got the bats going early as senior Doug Dekoning hit his eighth homerun of the season off the first pitch he saw in the first inning.  The Panthers added two more in the third, scoring on freshman Tell Taylor’s single and senior Sam Silivotti two-out double.

Game 4: (4) Valparaiso 11, (2) UIC 9

Both teams combined to score 20 runs on 33 hits as Valparaiso defeated UIC, 11-9, in the second game on Friday.

The Crusaders jumped to an early lead scoring two in the first inning off a double from Robbie Robinson.

UIC plated a run in the second off a double play ground out before Valpo added to the lead in the third and got up 5-1 on the Flames.

UIC scored four in the fourth inning, which was highlighted by a Steve McGuiggan triple and an Alex De LaRosa double, and took a 7-5 lead over the Crusaders.

The lead changed twice more before three runs in the eighth and ninth innings gave Valpo to last lead and eventually the win.

Game 5: (1) Wright State 12, (6) Youngstown State 0

Top-seeded Wright State came out strong in their first championship appearance, defeating Youngstown State, 12-0.

The Raiders started off scoring four in the first inning.  Sam Picchiotti scored off a ground out from Tristan Moore to start the inning.   Zach Tanner doubled to right scoring Dan Marsh and Corey Davis and Ryan Ashe added an RBI single for the final run.

Single runs in the third, fourth, and seventh put the Raiders up 7-0, before WSU knocked in five more in the eighth.

Senior right-hander Michael Moytek pitched his first career shutout, holding the Penguins to six singles while striking out seven.

Game 6:

In the final elimination game on Friday, UIC defeated Milwaukee, 1-0, to mark the fourth shutout game of the tournament.

No runs were scored through two innings of play, but UIC scored the one and final run of the game in the third inning.  After a walk, Jason Ganek advanced to second on a wild pitch and was eventually knocked in off a doubled down the left field line by Andy Leonard.

Matt Heaslip pitched a complete-game shutout for the Flames, and held the Panthers to five hits while striking out seven.

UIC will face Youngstown State in the first game on Saturday, scheduled to start at 11am ET, while top-seeded Wright State will take on No. 4 Valparaiso in the 3:05pm game.   The winner of game 7 and the loser of game 8 will play in the evening contest, scheduled to begin at 7:05pm.

The championship game will take place on Sunday at 11:00am ET.