Wooster, Otterbein, Marietta All Winners on Day 1 of Regional

Wooster's Dan Skulina tags out Mt. St. Joseph's Neil Gamble between third base and home after Gamble was caught in a run down in the top of the 9th inning.

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio – The top-two seeds at the NCAA Div. III Baseball Regional Tournament, hosted by The College of Wooster, won their games on the first day of action, as No. 1 Wooster edged sixth-seeded College of Mount St. Joseph 2-1 and No. 2 Otterbein College used a five-run eighth inning to get past fifth-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University. The only match-up Wednesday not to play out to form was Marietta College, the No. 4 seed, cruising past third-seeded Hope College 9-1.

In game one, Wooster’s Adam Samson (Orrville, Ohio / Orrville) and Mount St. Joseph’s Chris Waite each pitched gems, as the two teams combined for just six hits. After Waite had faced the minimum through three innings, Wooster (41-5) struck first, scoring an unearned run during the fourth when Pat Christensen (Cincinnati, Ohio / Sycamore) singled sharply past the third baseman to send home Shaun Swearingen (Hilliard, Ohio / Bishop Watterson), who had reached via an error.

An inning later, Matthew Johnson (Orrville, Ohio / Orrville) blasted a solo home run to give the Fighting Scots a 2-0 lead, but Ryan Meyer answered in the top of the sixth with a solo shot of his own to right field, which made it 2-1.

Samson came back to set down eight of the next nine, but in the ninth the Lions’ Neil Gamble got a leadoff single and after a strikeout, he was removed in favor of Mark Miller (Convoy, Ohio / Crestview). Mount St. Joseph (33-10) did not go away quietly, as it had runners on first and third with one out and the bases loaded with two outs before Miller escaped the jam, striking out the final batter. The key was getting the second out when Wooster’s third baseman Dan Skulina (Strongsville, Ohio / Walsh Jesuit) and catcher Brandon Boesiger (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio / Cuyahoga Falls) caught Gamble in a run-down after a chopper to third. 

Samson kept his perfect record intact (11-0), limiting the Lions to two infield singles and the Meyer home run during 8.1 innings, while Waite was the tough-luck loser (8-2). He went seven innings and yielded one earned run on three hits. Miller notched his seventh save, with both outs he recorded being strikeouts.

Otterbein (32-11) never trailed during game two, plating two runs without recording a hit during the bottom of the first and then putting together another two-run inning in the seventh after Ohio Wesleyan (24-15) had tied it with single tallies in the third and fourth. The Battling Bishops came back to even things up again during the top of the eighth, stringing together four singles, highlighted by a two-RBI base knock from Donnie Paul, however, Cardinal starter Dan Remenowsky induced an inning-ending double play to avert further damage.

In the bottom half of that frame, Otterbein broke things open, starting with a one-out solo home run from Bobby Wright. The Cardinals then loaded the bases via an error and two singles, and their fourth sacrifice fly of the game gave them a two-run cushion (6-4). Tyler Rudman and Brandon Mauck followed with an RBI two-bagger and two-run single, respectively, to seal the victory.

Offensively, Mauck went 3-for-4 with three RBI, while Sean Ring was 3-for-4 for the Battling Bishops.

Tom Doty and Justin Merryman of Marietta (29-14) were the stories of Wednesday’s third game, as the former homered twice and the latter pitched a complete game. Doty’s first round-tripper was a three-run shot during the top of the first.

Hope (28-12) got one run back in the bottom of the first on a Brian Baker RBI single, but that was all the Flying Dutchmen could put up on the scoreboard. The Pioneers added a single tally in the third to make it 4-1, and then in the bottom of that frame, Merryman stranded the bases loaded. Marietta carried that momentum over into the fourth, scoring three times, which was all of the offense until a two-run Doty homer in the ninth.

Merryman threw nearly 150 pitches (147) en route to his eighth win of the season (8-3). Hope was held to seven hits, all singles, and four walks, and he struck out seven.

In addition to Doty’s 2-for-5, 5-RBI performance, Ryan Eschbaugh (2-for-3) and Jeremy Reese (2-for-4) each collected a couple of hits for the Pioneers, while Matt Sattler and Bill Lutke were both 2-for-4 in the losing effort.

Three more games are scheduled to be played Thursday, starting with an elimination game between Mount St. Joseph and Ohio Wesleyan at noon.