Horizon League Baseball Championship – Day 2
(1) UIC 8, (4) Valparaiso 5
(2) Wright State 10, (3) Milwaukee 4
(3) Milwaukee 14, (4) Valparaiso 2 – Valparaiso eliminated
WHITING, Ind. – UIC and Wright State advanced through the winner’s bracket on Day 2 of the Horizon League Baseball Championship, while Milwaukee eliminated Valparaiso in the night’s finale at Oil City Stadium.
(1) UIC 8, (4) Valparaiso 5
Top-seeded UIC pushed its winning streak to eight, jumping on Vaparaiso early and holding on late to collect an 8-5 win in its Horizon League Baseball Championship opener.
Tyler Detmer provided the offense for UIC (29-20-1), going 3-for-5 with two home runs and three RBI, while Jake Dahlberg took care of business on the mound, going 7.2 innings and striking out nine.
Detmer kicked things off in the opening frame with two-run shot over the 25-foot wall in left, staking UIC to an early 2-0 lead. The senior launched his seventh long ball of the year in the third with a solo moonshot to left center.
After Valpo (22-30) plated its first run in the top of the fifth stanza, the Flames put up a four-spot in the bottom of the sixth inning to jump ahead 8-1.
Consecutive walks to Alex Lee and Rob Calabrese set the table for UIC ahead of RBI singles from David Cronin and Zenon Kolakowski.
After a bunt single loaded the bases, Jeff Boehm stepped to the plate with two outs. Down 0-2 in the count, Boehm went the other way to the left field corner, driving in two and pushing the lead to 8-1 after six innings.
Still, Valparaiso made UIC work to close out the game, beginning its rally with a Mark Johnson RBI double in the seventh and continuing into the eighth inning.
The Crusaders loaded the bases with no one out in their half of the eighth, and after a fielder’s choice brought across Valpo’s third run of the game, Chad Jacob singled through the right side, plating Nolan Lodden. Kyle Schneider’s ground ball to third eluded Mickey McDonald, scoring Josh Clark and allowing Valpo to bring the tying run to the plate.
UIC closer Ryan Hinchley came in for the final out of the eighth and rang up Crusader shortstop Spencer Mahoney to end the surge. Working a flawless ninth, Hinchley picked up his 10th save of the season, which ranks third all-time on UIC's single-season leaderboard.
All nine UIC batters reached base in the contest and eight of the nine recorded at least one hit.
(2) Wright State 10, (3) Milwaukee 4
Crooked numbers carried Wright State past Milwaukee in the Raiders’ first game of the Horizon League Baseball Championship. The Raiders scored five runs in the second inning and four in the fifth to thwart Milwaukee’s bid for two straight wins to open the tournament.
Wright State (38-14) struck first in the bottom of the second, as Ryan Fucci’s double brought Mitch Roman home. With Matt Morrow standing on third, Andrew McCafferty’s ground out brought the Raiders’ second run of the inning across.
A batter later, Josh Brodner launched a two-run shot to left center and double the WSU advantage to 4-0. Before the dugout celebration was finished, Sean Murphy made it back-to-back shots, closing a five-run inning.
Milwaukee (36-19) would immediately respond, loading the bases with nobody out in the top of the third. On a full count, Derek Peake walked to bring in the Panthers’ first run before a wild pitch allowed Eric Solberg to cross the dish.
Mitch Ghelfi, who was at the plate for the wild pitch, continued the at bat and doubled to the left-center gap, clearing the bases and closing Milwaukee’s gap to a single run.
Both starters would settle down over the next couple innings before the Raiders struck again in the fifth.
Consecutive singles from Murphy and Mark Fowler, followed by a walk to Jacob Timm, loaded the bases with one out for the Raiders. Mitch Roman saw four consecutive balls to force Murphy home. A wild pitch would plate Fowler for the inning’s second run. With two outs, Andrew McCafferty grounded to second, but a fielding error saw the ball carom into short right field, allowing Roman and Timm to come home.
Wright State would tack on one more run in the seventh to close the scoring.
E.J. Trapino collected the win, improving to 7-0 on the year after tossing three scoreless innings in relief of starter Luke Mamer.
(3) Milwaukee 14, (4) Valparaiso 2
Luke Meeteer went 2-for-3 with a home run and four runs scored, including the go-ahead shot in the fifth inning, propelling Milwaukee to a 14-2 win over Valparaiso in an elimination game at the Horizon League Baseball Championship.
Milwaukee (37-19) trailed 2-1 before scoring the game’s final 13 runs. Twelve of those came across the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
Entering the bottom of the fifth tied at two, the Panthers broke the game open against Valparaiso (22-31) starter Ryan Fritze.
Ryan McShane led off the inning with a single before Meeteer’s home run gave Milwaukee its first lead of the night, 4-2. The Panthers would send 10 batters to the plate in the inning, knocking Fritze from the game as they scored six runs. Sacrifice flies from Mike Porcaro and Dalton Varsho bookended a Nick Unes RBI single and a double from Tell Taylor that brought Mitch Ghelfi home.
The Panthers would keep the onslaught going in the sixth, as Meeteer stood on third after a Mitch Ghelfi fielder’s choice. Ghelfi ran on a 2-0 pitch, and on the throw through, Meeteer grabbed home on the double steal. Unes capped the inning with a single to right, plating Ghelfi.
After Brian Keller finished his work in the seventh inning, scattering seven hits and allowing two runs over his time, the Panthers salted away the game with four more runs.
Derek Peake went the opposite way to bring Dalton Varsho home before Sam Koenig followed with a one-hopper to the fence, driving in Peake and Meeteer. Ghelfi capped the scoring with a single back through the box.
Valpo jumped out to an early lead, collecting single runs in the first two innings, the first coming on a bases loaded walk to Shea Molitor. Mark Johnson would double off the left-field wall in the second and come around on Jeff Edwards’ single to right center.
