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Purdue Fort Wayne
OAKLAND
Late Rally Falls Shorts as Oakland Tops IPFW
4/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 17, 2009
Fort Wayne, IN - A frantic rally in the bottom of the ninth inning came up just short as Oakland University held on to beat IPFW, 7-6 on Friday in their Summit League series opener at Mastodons Field.
IPFW fell behind, 2-0 after three innings as the Golden Grizzlies opened the scoring in the top of the second on a RBI double to left center field by third baseman Rob Merkle and the eighth homer of the season by center fielder Justin Wilson in the third.
The score remained 2-0, Oakland until the bottom of the fourth. IPFW second baseman Jason Doerffler worked a two-out walk off of OU starter Matt LaMothe. The next batter, catcher Devin Taylor, drilled his first homer of the season out of left field tying it at two-all.
IPFW took the lead in the bottom of the 6th inning on a sacrifice fly by Doerffler that plated Mark Carden.
IPFW couldn't hold that lead though, giving up four runs in the top of the 7th inning and one in the 8th inning to trail 7-3 going into their final at-bat.
Oakland loaded the bases on two hit batsman and a walk. Doerffler scored on a passed ball, Taylor scored on a balk, and shortstop Jordan Kohler chased home a run with a sacrifice fly to right field, bringing the 'Dons to within one at 7-6.
With runners on first and second and two outs, reliever Andrew Estes got Carden to ground into a fielder's choice to end the game. Carden was a tough out on the day, going 3-5.
LaMothe got the win for Oakland (11-19, 4-5 SL). He raised his record to 4-1 by tossing seven innings of five-hit ball. He gave up three runs (two earned) while walking and striking out three.
IPFW reliever Matt Antos was tagged with the loss (1-3). He gave up four runs on three hits in 2.1 innings.
With the loss, IPFW's record is now 7-25, 0-9 SL. The 'Dons have lost 11 straight. They will look to break that string when the host the Golden Grizzlies in the mid-series double header on Saturday at Mastodons Field at noon.
~Dons~
