Purdue Fort Wayne
SOUTHERN UTAH
Baseball Wins Conference Opening Slugfest at Southern Utah, 21-13
4/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 3, 2008
Cedar City, UT - Senior center fielder Jared Davis drove in six runs, and sophomore first baseman Shaun VanDriessche plated four, as IPFW won their first Summit League game, 21-13 at Southern Utah on Thursday afternoon.
The win is IPFW's third straight and came in an unexpected high-scoring fashion.
IPFW trotted out junior starter Brandon Knowling, who owned a 1.11 ERA. This one figured to be a pitcher's duel, but weather conditions dictated play. With a stiff breeze blowing out of Thunderbird Park, no one on either staff felt comfortable.
IPFW opened the scoring in the top of the first as Davis tripled to the gap in right center field. He would come home on a wild pitch from SUU starter Dustin Wittwer.
After setting down the Thunderbirds in order in the first, Knowling ran into all kinds of trouble in the bottom of the second inning.
SUU first baseman Joe Wright touched Knowling up with a three-run homer to make it 3-1 Southern Utah.
With only one out in the frame, centerfielder Nick Freitas launched the second three-run blast, making it 6-1 Thunderbirds.
After giving up a two-run shot to catcher Cameron Nelson, Knowling's day was over and the Mastodons trailed 8-1.
On came IPFW junior Tyler Baatz who settled things down, giving up just a single run in the 4th inning, that was Freitas' second blast of the game.
The Mastodon bats began to make some noise in the 5th inning.
The 'Dons got two back on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Mark Carden and an RBI single from catcher Devin Taylor.
In the 6th inning, IPFW exploded for seven runs.
Junior left fielder Quentin Brown hit his first homer of the year, a two-run shot.
Second baseman Scott Micinski plated a run with an RBI double, and the big swing of the inning came from the bat of Davis who drilled a three-run shot to left center, and after a VanDriessche homer to left, IPFW had a 10-9 lead.
IPFW enjoyed their seven-run sixth so much, they decided to plate seven more in the 7th inning, but it almost didn't happen.
Third baseman Jimmy Gilliland got the inning going with an RBI single down the left field line.
After an out, a Mark Carden ground ball was turned into a double-play, but on the play, the ball was ruled to have hit the field umpire. That makes it a dead ball negated the twin-killing.
Bad luck for the Thunderbirds, because the Mastodons took advantage.
Taylor drove in Gilliland with an RBI single. Davis doubled down the right field line scoring two, and VanDriessche blasted a three-run shot to dead center field to make it 17-9.
Southern Utah got one in the bottom of the seventh and one in the eighth to make it 17-11.
The 'Dons weren't finished. Right fielder Garrett Segraves launched his first homer of the season, a two-run job to left, and Gilliland got his second homer of the year, a two-run dinger to right to give the 'Dons a 10-run lead.
Freitas hit his third of the game in the bottom of the 9th inning, but the 'Dons would win the slugfest, 21-13.
Davis was a single shy of hitting for the cycle on the afternoon, going 3-6 with 6 RBI and 3 runs scored.
VanDriessche was 3-5 with 4 RBI including his 3rd and 4th homers of the year.
Gilliland was 4-5 with 3 RBI and 4 runs scored. In all, IPFW pounded out 20 hits in the win.
Baatz came on to get the win. (1-2) He threw six complete, giving up three runs on six hits. Baatz struck out four and walked just one.
Sophomore Matt Antos pitched 1-2/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits. He also struck out four while walking one.
Braden Yardley (0-2) took the loss for the Thunderbirds (11-12, 0-1) giving up three runs on two hits.
With the win, IPFW improves to 5-15-1 and 1-0 in Summit League play.
The Mastodons and Thunderbirds will play a double header on Friday before wrapping the series up with a single game on Saturday.
~Dons~
