Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Box Score

  MARION, Ind. -- When it mattered most, Bart Schnur was at his best and the University of Saint Francis stunned No. 1 MCC Tournament seed Huntington 4-2 on Wednesday morning.

  USF (16-31) scored two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to take a 4-0 lead over the Foresters (21-19), who finished second in the Mid-Central Conference. The Cougars, winners of 7 of their last 10 games, then held off the Foresters to advance to Round 2 in the winner's bracket. USF was to play the loser of the Marian-Bethel game at 4 p.m.

Troy Hudson made two crucial plays for USF on offense. In the fifth inning, his sacrifice fly to center field allowed Jarrod Wehri to score from third to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Matt Altenburger singled down the left field line to score Scott Bickel from second.

USF added two more runs in the sixth. Hudson worked left-hander Drew Taylor for a bases-loaed walk pushing the Cougar lead to 3-0. With the sacks still full, Ben Dunlap hit a grounder to short. HU tried for the force at second, but Hudson beat the throw and Wehri scored for a 4-0 lead.

HU collected 12 hits off Schnur, but the only inning they could get on the board was the eighth when Zach Crooks singled in the Foresters first run and Andy Janzen grounded out to third scoring Levi Sell from third.

HU got the tying runs to second and third with two out in the ninth, but Schnur caught Andrew Drummond looking to secure the win. It was Schnur's fifth win of the season to even his record at 5-5.

"We haven't put together back-to-back good games this season, so that is our challenge," USF coach Greg Roberts told his players after the big win. "Let's get focused. We did a pretty good job this game, but we've still got business to take care of."

-- GO USF --