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 Tim George was 2-for-3 with two runs scored Sunday at Tampa. |
March 16, 2008
TAMPA, Fla. - A three hour and 35 minute marathon at the University of Tampa (20-4-1) resulted in a 20-10 loss for the Wayne State baseball team (2-6) on Sunday afternoon.
The teams combined to use 29 different batters and 14 pitchers as the seventh-ranked Spartans swept the three-game series against the Warriors, who have lost five straight.
Michael Wiseman (White Lake, Mich./Lakeland) was 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored, while Tim George (Quincy, Mich.) and Ryan LaPensee (LaSalle, Ont./St. Thomas of Villanova) each had a pair of hits as well.
Only 13 of the 20 runs allowed by the Warriors were earned, as they committed four fielding errors on the afternoon. Tampa scored five runs in the first inning and eight in the fifth, while WSU scored six runs over the final two frames.
The Warriors jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when Drew Churchward (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) drove in Matthew Williams (Detroit, Mich./Royal Oak Shrine) on a double and later came around to score on a double play.
A three-run homer by Leo Alvarez highlighted Tampa's five-run first inning. Wiseman's groundout in the third plated Tony Hines (Detroit, Mich./Mumford), who doubled to lead off the inning, but the Spartans scored three more times in the bottom of the third. Paul Cruz smacked a two-run double to center and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
After Tampa tacked on another run in the fourth, the offense of the defending Division II champion exploded for eight runs in the fifth inning. A three-run homer by Ryan Williams and a three-run double by Brett McKean set the tone for the Spartan offense.
Two more runs in the seventh for the home team made it a 20-4 game, but the Warriors scratched out four runs on four hits in the eighth. George and Wiseman each drove in a run on base hits, and Scott Martin's (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) two-run single to right center doubled WSU's total to eight.
Derek Ranck's (Clarkston, Mich.) double in the ninth brought in a pair and completed the scoring.
Wayne State hits the road again Tuesday, March 18 at S. Joseph's for a doubleheader and Wednesday, March 19 at Central Michigan.