Horizon League Baseball Championship - Day 1

May 24, 2006

Game 1: (#5) Butler 5, (#4) Youngstown State 3 (10 innings)
Fairborn, Ohio - Joe Dempsey homered to tie the game in the eighth inning and drove in the winning run with a tenth-inning single as fifth-seeded Butler rallied to defeat fourth seed Youngstown State 5-3 in ten innings to open the 2006 Horizon League Baseball Championship. Butler advanced in the winner's bracket with a 19-34 overall ledger while Youngstown State fell to 26-28 on the season.

Dempsey's two-run shot (his ninth of the season) off Youngstown State closer Ryan Sellman capped a three-run rally in the eighth, as the Bulldogs came back from a 3-0 deficit. Stephen Gill and Joe Pauley opened the inning with back-to-back singles but Pauley was picked off for the first out. Pinch-hitter Mike Stout's double down the right field line plated Gill. Sellman was summoned to thwart the comeback attempt, but Dempsey cleared the fence with a line drive two batters later.

The Butler catcher provided further heroics in the tenth. Nate Hart led off with a bunt single---his first hit of the 2006 season---and took second base on Jeff Brown's sacrifice. Dempsey then dropped a bloop single inside the right field line to put BU ahead, and Joel Matheny added some insurance with an RBI single to left field.

Jon Dages earned the victory with five innings of scoreless relief, registering two of his five strikeouts in the bottom of the tenth inning. He improved to 3-5 on the season while Sellman suffered his first defeat in seven decisions.

YSU took a 2-0 lead in the opening frame on Erich Diedrich's two-run single BU starter Bryan Bokowy. The Penguins added another run in the fifth when Justin Banks drew a bases-loaded walk, but couldn't stretch the margin any further. Youngstown State stranded nine runners in the game.

Butler's comeback spoiled an effective outing by Penguin starter Lucas Engle, who struck out seven and allowed only two runs on six hits in 7.1 innings. He gave up three hits in the first two innings but no more until the fateful eighth.

Box and Play-by-Play in PDF Format

Game 2: (#3) Wright State 16, (#6) Cleveland State 1
Fairborn, Ohio - Host Wright State tied a Horizon League Championship record with 23 hits and posted four runs in each of three innings on the way to a 16-1 victory over sixth seed Cleveland State in Wednesday's second game. The third-seeded Raiders improved to 29-25 overall while CSU suffered its 41st loss in 50 games this year.

Wright State's Ross Oeder tied a League Championship individual record with five hits, while Dan Biedenharn, Aaron Garcia, Amin Abusaleh and Justin Wilson each added three. All nine Raider starters had at least one hit and eight had at least one RBI.

The Raiders jumped on CSU starter Brian Long for four runs in the first inning, exploiting the Viking defense on two separate occasions. Abusaleh's two-run single highlighted the frame, and Justin Parker's two-run double to left center was the key hit during a four-run third inning which put WSU ahead 8-0.

Wright State tacked on two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth before exploding for four more runs in the seventh. John Kopilchack hit his third home run of the year to start that seventh stanza, with Oeder posting his fifth hit of the game in the next inning by driving a triple off the fence in left center field. Oeder scored the final run on Biedenharn's single.

The 23 hits were more than enough support for WSU starter Robert Barrett, who allowed only two hits in five shutout innings before turning the game over to the bullpen. Barrett lifted his record to 8-3 while Long dropped to 1-4 after yielding eight runs (seven earned) on ten hits in four frames.

Cleveland State scored its only run in the top of the eighth when Bobby Cash led off with a double and crossed the plate on Vasili Pahoulis' RBI single.

Cleveland State and Youngstown State square off in an elimination game to begin Thursday's schedule. That 11 a.m. contest is followed by a pair of winner's bracket games, as Wright State faces second-seeded UW-Milwaukee (31-23) at 3 p.m., and Butler meets top seed UIC (34-18) at 7 p.m. at Nischwitz Stadium.

Box and Play-by-Play in PDF Format