Wright State outlasts UW-Milwaukee for berth in final of Baseball Championship
Box Score
May 26, 2007
Wright State 12, UW-Milwaukee 11 (11 innings)Chicago, Ill. - Kris Steffen scored on a throwing error in the bottom of the 11th inning as second seed Wright State defeated third-seeded UW-Milwaukee 12-11 in an 11-inning, elimination contest of the 2007 U.S. Army Horizon League Baseball Championship at Les Miller Field.
Steffen crossed the plate following an errant throw by UW-Milwaukee catcher Shaun Wegner, who attempted to throw out the Raider runner to complete a potential inning-ending double play. Justin Parker started the frame with a single, and Steffen walked with one out. Gerald Ogrinc then laced a single to center field, but UW-Milwaukee's Ross McCoy fired to the plate to nail Parker. Wegner then attempted to retire Steffen at third, but his throw sailed into left field as Steffen reached home plate to preserve the Raiders' season.
Wright State erupted for four runs in the bottom of the second inning off UWM starter Mike Rauwerdink. Brian Shoup led off the frame with his eighth home run of the season and John Kopilchack added a three-run blast---his fifth of the year---one out later to stake Raider starter Garret Holleran to a 4-0 lead.
The Panthers came back with a four-run flurry of their own in the fourth, with Rob Brockel singling home one run and Grant Berkovitz belting his fifth round-tripper, a three-run shot, over the left-field fence. UWM took a 10-4 lead one inning later, sending ten men to the plate while scoring six runs. After Nick Wichser's two-run triple started the scoring, Berkovitz and Ross McCoy each slapped run-scoring single to make it 8-4. Shawn Wozniak then hit a sharp grounder off the first-base bag, scoring both Berkovitz and McCoy to cap the six-run outburst.
Sixth-inning homers from Shoup and Ogrinc (his fourth of the year) cut the gap to 10-6, and Justin Parker drove in another run with his sacrifice fly an inning later. The Raiders had a chance for a big inning in the eighth, as Panther pitcher Jordan Herbert hit Ogrinc and then walked the next three hitters to force in a run.
Tom Zimmerman came on to get out of the jam, inducing a double-play grounder from Dan Biedenharn and forcing Raider slugger Jeremy Hamilton to pop out to shortstop to end the inning. Sam Mote scored on the twin killing, but that was as close as the Raiders would get in the eighth, with UW-Milwaukee clinging to a 10-9 lead. UWM attempted to add some insurance in the top of the ninth, but Kopilchack fielded a McCoy single and threw out Rob Brockel at the plate.
That play loomed large when Shoup became the first player in Horizon League Championship history to homer three times in one game, taking a Zimmerman pitch over the right field fence with one out for his tenth blast of the year to force extra innings.
Hart put the Panthers back on top in the tenth with his third homer of the season---all coming in the tournament---off the top of the left-field scoreboard , but Wright State answered in the bottom of the frame on a lead-off double by pinch-hitter Stephen Marquez and an RBI single by Ross Oeder.
Shoup was three-for-five at the plate, and Ogrinc also scored three runs for the Raiders. Bennion improved to 4-1 after scattering six hits in 4.1 innings. Biedenharn had his hitting streak end at 23 games, going 0-for-4 with a sacrifice and a walk.
Berkovitz had five of the Panthers' 18 hits and drove in four runs, and Josh Groves added three hits as all nine starters had at least one hit. Brandon Duffy---the Panthers' fifth pitcher of the game---fell to 3-4 after allowing the unearned run on two hits in 1.1 innings.
Wright State advances to the championship, where the Raiders meet tournament host and top seed UIC (33-19). WSU must defeat the Flames twice---both in Saturday's second game and Sunday at 11 a.m.---to claim the League title and move on to the NCAA Championship tournament. A single UIC victory would give the regular-season champion Flames their third League crown in five years (2003, 2005, 2007).
