Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Box Score

  MARION, Ind. -- Though they gave it the 'old college try,' two upsets in one day was too much to ask.

  Early Thursday morning before a shivering crowd of 25 or so University of Saint Francis baseball fans buffeted by a bone-chilling breeze out of the east, No. 3 seed Bethel bounced back to snatch an 8-7 win out of the clenches of the Cougars about 12:23 a.m.

 USF (16-32) will resume play in the Mid-Central Conference Tournament Thursday at 1 p.m. with an elimination-game against Taylor.

  The Cougars led 2-0, 5-3, and 6-4, but starting pitcher Mark McCarty struggled with his control pitching from behind in the count much of his 7-plus innings. He finally yielded the lead in the seventh with two outs when Jake Ringenberg lashed a two-run double to left centerfield for a 7-6 edge. The BC inning started when third baseman Ben Dunlap couldn't field a dribbler down the third baseline to open the seventh.

A walk, a USF mental error that allowed a BC runner to outwit the Cougars and dash to third base, a hit and an error cost the Cougars in the ninth when the Pilots (19-27) scored the game-winner. The Cougars had tied the game in the top of ninth with the benefit of a BC error on a Scott Bickel single that scored Josh Widman from third.

  "You don't walk lead-off men very often and get away with it," USF coach Greg Roberts said. "We had played good defense behind Bart in the win over Huntington, but we've had trouble playing two good games on the same day and between the walks and errors, we couldn't get it finished."

  USF upset top-seeded Huntington University 4-2 in a first-round game that ended at 11:59 a.m.

  McCarty surrendered 12 hits and five walks, not the kind of outing he was looking for. It was the third time in 10 McCarty starts USF has dropped a one-run decision. And the Cougars slipped to 6-9 in one run games, 7-11 in one and two run losses.

  The third inning was pivotal when the Cougars scored three times to regain the lead 5-3. USF had the bases loaded, but Austin Leisure flew out to short right field on a tough over-the-shoulder catch by second baseman Nelson Sanchez and Mickey Cassidy followed with a deep fly to left.

BC starting pitcher Chad Emberton battled through the adversity and picked up the complete-game win. He only walked one batter to survive 10 hits and six BC errors.

"It is really disappointing, but we've got to find a way to bounce back today," Roberts said.

Marc Gillig, who had come on in the seventh in relief of McCarty and got a fly to rightfielder Josh Widman to hold the BC edge to just one run, walked Enrique Odreman to open the ninth. Korey Pulliam popped up a bunt attempt over Gillig and in front of second baseman Austin Leisure, who was playing deep at second hoping for a double play ball. BC's No. 9 batter, Brock Armington, walked after Ordreman dashed to third as Dunlap broke in anticipating a bunt. USF shortstop Mickey Cassidy broke in, then too late to third to pick off Odreman.

Roberts had to bring the USF infield in to cut down the run at the plate, but Korey Pulluiam banged a routine bouncer past Gillig. It had so much 'English' on it that Cassidy bobbled it as he gloved it behind the mound, then dropped it as Odreman dashed home with the game-winner.

BC no doubt was thankful to win the game in regulation after the Pilots dropped a 16-inning, 8-7 decision to Marian College earlier on Wednesday. That's what forced the USF-BC game into the wee hours of Thursday morning. Though there are two baseball diamonds at Seybold Park on the Indiana Wesleyan University campus, the second diamond is not lighted. Officials didn't feel that the USF - BC game could be completed before darkness, so the game was moved to the light diamond after the Marian-Taylor game, which Marian won 6-5 scoring three times in the bottom of the ninth.

So instead of playing the MC-BC game loser starting between 4 and 5 p.m. as originally scheduled, the Cougars and Pilots squared off at 9:47 p.m.

Leisure put USF in front in the top of the second with a two-out, two-run single. USF scored three times in the third on an error and Jarrod Wehri and Dunlap RBI singles to regain the lead 5-3. BC scored a run in the fourth, but a two-out Matt Altenburger double boosted the USF lead to 6-4 in the fifth. But USF went 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

Taylor won 3-of-4 against the Cougars back in March.

-- GO USF --