UPLAND, Ind. -- Tom Degitz brought a stunning conclusion to the Indiana Wesleyan University baseball season when he hammered a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to give University of Saint Francis (Ind.) a 6-5 victory in the Crossroads League Baseball Tournament in Upland, Indiana.
Indiana Wesleyan led the entire game and took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Cody Jones retired the first batter in the inning but a single and a walk brought IWU head coach Chad Newhard to the mound. He decided to bring in Bryan Beachy to finish the game after his stellar 2.2 innings of relief yesterday.
Beachy walked the first batter he faced which put the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate. Degitz stepped to the dish and hit a 1-1 pitch deep to left field for the game-winning grand slam.
The loss brings a close to the Indiana Wesleyan season. IWU ends 2013 with a 23-24-1 overall record while the team placed fifth in the Crossroads League standings with a 17-13 record.
Saint Francis advances to the final game of the Crossroads League Tournament Bracket in Upland and will play Taylor (Ind.) University. The winner of that bracket on Friday will play the winner of the Marion bracket on Saturday for the tournament championship. Spring Arbor (Mich.) University and Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) University are the final two teams in the Marion bracket and they play at noon tomorrow at Wildcat Field.
The Wildcats gained the early lead with a run in the top of the first on an RBI single by Preston Fugita. IWU added to its lead with three more in the fifth for a 4-0 cushion. With two on in the fifth, AJ Harris laid down a sac bunt attempt that he beat out for a single. The throw by the pitcher went way wide as both runners came around to score and Harris moved to third. Trey Shigley was up next and he hit a sac fly to score Harris to cap the three run outburst.
Starting pitcher Matt Blankenship did not allow a run in the first four innings but surrendered single runs in the fifth and sixth innings as Saint Francis closed the gap to 4-2. Saint Francis threatened in the eighth inning in Jones’ first inning of relief. After Jones retired the first two batters in the inning, a walk and two singles loaded the bases. Jones recovered with a swinging strike three to end the threat.
Peter Engle led off the top of the ninth and on the second pitch of the inning he crushed his first home run of the season over the left field fence. The home run gave Indiana Wesleyan a 5-2 lead that they took into the bottom of the ninth.
Blankenship was stellar for the Wildcats in 7.0 innings of work. He gave up two runs -- one earned -- on seven hits. He walked three and struck out five in a no decision.
Jacob Murphy had three of the team’s nine hits in the game while Javier Aponte added two hits with one being a double. Fugita, Engle, and Shigley each earned one RBI in the contest.
