The Dominican University baseball team walked off on a wild pitch for a 5-4 win over the Marian University Sabres in game two of a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) doubleheader on Tuesday night after dropping the opener 10-0. The split pushes the Stars to 15-12 overall and 9-3 in league play, securing a third straight 3-1 weekend for the Stars who stand in third place in the NACC standings just over halfway through the conference season.
"I talked to our guys between games and told them the first game was very disappointing," said Steve Hardman, the Stars' head baseball coach. "We didn't come to play in any aspect of the game. We didn't have a plan going up to the plate. So I challenged and told them they had two choices…you could either go away the way the rest of the league thinks you are going to or can take control of your destiny and I thought they responded really well. We got a great outing from Tyler Kara in his first start, going seven strong. We fought and clawed and ended up pulling out a 'W' that could be huge for us in terms of postseason potential."
Dominican returns to action on Saturday, heading north to Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee for a league series with the Warriors. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at Neumann Family Baseball Field.
Game One: Marian 10, Dominican 0 (8 Inn.)
Marian's Garrett Martin, the reigning NACC Pitcher of the Week, limited the Stars to just two hits and three walks while striking out 14 in a complete-game, eight inning effort, to improve to 4-0 on the season.
For the Stars,
Trevor Fulmer took the loss, falling to 1-2 on the year. The freshman right-hander surrendered seven runs, five earned, on ten hits and one walk over 6.2 innings of work. Dominican's bullpen then gave up three runs in the top of the eighth.
Ryan Simak and
Johnny Condron had one hit apiece for Dominican in the losing effort.
Game Two: Dominican 5, Marian 4
After the Stars opened a 5-1 lead after five innings, the Sabres rallied for two in the top of the sixth and one of the eighth to even the score, 4-4, after eight innings. After
Austin Michals worked a 1-2-3 top of the ninth out of the Stars' bullpen, Dominican put the first two hitters on in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a Marian error and a bunt single. After Simak laid down a sac bunt,
Bryant Bagshaw scored from third when Connor Nelson uncorked a wild pitch after just entering the game to face Condron.
Tyler Kara worked seven solid innings in his first start of the season. The freshman right-hander allowed just three unearned runs on seven hits while striking out five and walking none.
Noah Loeffler worked the eighth for Dominican, allowing one run on two hits while punching out two before Michals worked the ninth to pick up the win and improve to 1-0 on the season.
The Sabres scored the first run in the game in the top of the first, capitalizing on a Dominican error, one of three errors in the game for Dominican.
The Stars answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth when
Mike Buckley singled up the middle to score
Mike Piotrowski who yanked a single through the left side of the infield to leadoff the frame.
Dominican then took its first lead of the day in the bottom of the fifth when
Frankie Sessa singled to left-center with the bases loaded, scoring
Kevin Evans and Simak. Piotrowski followed with an RBI single up the middle, plating Condron and giving the Stars a 4-1 lead after five.
The Sabres took advantage of a pair of Dominican errors in the top of the sixth, cutting the Stars' lead to 4-3 after six. After worked around a one-out single in the seventh, the rookie exited the game with a 4-3 lead and turned the game over to the bullpen for the eighth.
Marian's Michael Snow led off the top of the eighth with a single to center off of Loeffler and then stole second before scoring the tying run on a one-out single by Sean Meyer. Loeffler escaped further damage getting a weak lineout to short before striking out Matt Nordlund for the final out in the eighth.
The Stars went down in order in their half of the eighth before a Sabres throwing error to start the bottom of the ninth, setting the stage for the walk-off dramatics.
The Stars finished with six hits in the win, two apiece for Sessa and Piotrowski while Buckley and Evans picked up one hit each.
