After back-to-back conference doubleheaders Friday and Saturday, no one was quite sure what to expect when the Blue Streaks hosted the #7 ranked team in Division III on Sunday at Schweickert Field.
The College of Wooster came in to University Heights riding a seven-game winning streak and sportinga stellar 23-5 overall record, but needed all nine innings to get past the Blue Streaks. A two-run rally in the top of the ninth enabled the Fighting Scots to escape with a 4-3 win.
John Carroll had used most of its pitching staff in defeating Heidelberg on Friday and Muskingum on Saturday, but the duo of
Joseph Franke and
Christopher Hanley proved to be up to the task. Franke worked the first four innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits.Â
Trailing 2-0 heading to the bottom of the fourth, JCU worked to even the game when
Joe Charpentier singled through the left side, which was followed by a
Matthew Donnelly single through the right side. Despite getting the first two hitters aboard, Wooster got consecutive strikeouts to seemingly abort the rally. But a
Jason Large base hit down the left field line plated both runners to even the score at 2-2.
The score remained deadlocked until the bottom of the seventh innings. With the bases loaded and one out,
John Bondi lifted a medium deep fly ball to right field that was caught, and Dom Mittiga beat the throw to the plate for the go-ahead run. The other two runners were stranded, however, as the Blue Streaks left a season-high 14 runners on base for the game.
That would haunt JCU in the ninth, as after leaving two more runners on in the bottom of the eighth, Wooster's bug guns broke through against Hanley. In his fifth inning of work, Hanley surrendered a one-out, two-run single to Nick Strausbaugh (who began the day batting .421) in the top of the ninth for the winning tallies.
Hanley worked five innings -- the longest outing of his career -- and gave up just two runs on six hits (four in the ninth), striking out two and walking none.
Wooster improved to 24-5 with the win, while JCU slipped to 15-17, losing for just the third time in the last 12 games. The Blue Streaks' season-long five game winning streak was snapped with the loss.
