Second-Seeded Scots to Compete for Mideast Regional Title Again

Adam Samson

The College of Wooster finds itself in a familiar spot, as the Fighting Scots are making their fifth-straight and 23rd appearance in the NCAA Div. III Baseball Championship, which begins this week with 54 teams competing at eight regionals across the country. Wooster, ranked No. 17 in the most recent D3baseball.com top-25 poll, received an at-large berth into the six-team Mideast Regional, hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology for the third time in four years. The Scots are the No. 2 seed and will open with fifth-seeded Adrian College (30-10) on Wednesday, May 14, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, while the remaining squads consist of top-seeded Heidelberg College (37-8), third-seeded Calvin College (32-8), fourth-seeded Rose-Hulman (31-13), and sixth-seeded Transylvania University (31-12). If the schedule goes according to plan, the regional championship game will be Saturday, May 17, at noon. Visit http://www.rose-hulman.edu/sports/baseball/08regional/ for the latest schedule, as well as live scoring and more. The winner of the Mideast Regional will advance to next week’s Div. III National Championship Series, which will be held in Appleton, Wis.

NCAA Tournament Notes: Wooster, entering its 23rd Div. III tourney appearance, is an even 47-47 all-time (.500) in regional and national tournament games combined. The Scots only trail fellow traditional powers Eastern Connecticut State University (29), Ithaca College (32), Marietta College (29), Montclair State University (24), and the University of Wis.-Oshkosh (24) in all-time regional appearances.

Wooster, which has gone 10-10 over five such tourneys in the 2000s, has won four previous NCAA regional titles (1989, 1994, 1997, 2005). The Scots’ top showings were second- and third-place national finishes in 1997 and 2005, respectively.

In the two previous regionals held at Rose-Hulman, Wooster has seen mixed success. The Scots’ 2005 team won all four games it played, taking the regional crown in decisive fashion, and then in 2006, Wooster went two-and-out, losing the only games it played.

Seed Talk: The Scots are not the team to beat, at least according to the seeds, for the first time in quite awhile. Wooster had been the No. 1 seed at each of the last four regionals its played in (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) and six times over the last 11 seasons (1998, 2002), combining to go 12-12 in such games. Prior to 1996, seedings at regionals were not published, while the Scots’ most successful NCAA run saw them start as a No. 3 seed at Marietta’s 1997 regional.

Head Coach Tim Pettorini: The driving force behind one of the top programs in Div. III is Tim Pettorini (Bowling Green ‘73). Wooster’s 27th-year head coach ranks among the top-10 in Div. III career victories via his 875-319-6 record, and he’s guided the Scots to a league-record 11 North Coast Athletic Conference championships as well as the four regional titles.

All-Time Series: Adrian and Wooster have met three times previously, with the Scots sweeping a doubleheader from the Bulldogs to open the 1989 season (12-3, 8-4) and cruising past them 12-1 in the 2005 NCAA regional opener. Interestingly, Wooster had not lost to an opponent out of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association during the Tim Pettorini era prior to a 5-3 setback versus Hope College at last year’s regional.

Heidelberg has been a regular opponent of the Scots over the years, as Wooster owns a 51-21 record in the teams’ all-time series. They’ve already played twice this season, with the Scots prevailing 5-2 during the spring break trip and the ‘Berg winning 9-2 in Wooster on April 23.

The only time Calvin and Wooster met on the diamond came in 1978, a 2-1, 10-0 sweep for the Scots on the spring trip.

Wooster has never faced Rose-Hulman previously and the Scots are undefeated in four games with Transylvania, the most recent being 7-2 and 29-8 victories during the 2007 and 2005 spring break trips, respectively.

NCAC Tournament Recap: Wooster lost a North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal series for just the third time since the league adopted its current postseason format in 2001. The other two times the Scots lost in the NCAC semis (2001, 2003), they did not gain a berth into the NCAA field.

On May 3, Bubba O’Donnell (Cincinnati, Ohio / St. Xavier) belted two home runs, including one in Wooster’s nine-run sixth inning, as he keyed a 14-7 triumph over Ohio Wesleyan University in game one of the teams’ NCAC Tournament semifinal series. Early on, Ohio Wesleyan took advantage of some defensive miscues by the Scots, plating an unearned run in the first and three in the second. Wooster put together a three-run inning itself during the first, highlighted by a Matt Groezinger (Upper Arlington, Ohio / Upper Arlington) RBI double to deep right and a two-run single from Dan Skulina (Hinckley, Ohio / Walsh Jesuit), so the Scots only trailed 4-3 after two. It remained that way until the bottom of the fourth when O’Donnell sent a ball well over the left field fence for his fifth career round-tripper. Two batters later, Jake Sankal (Mentor, Ohio / Mentor) drove a solo shot to center, giving Wooster a 5-4 lead. The sixth inning turned out to be the difference, with the Scots scoring eight of the nine runs with two outs as they strung together six hits and a walk, capped by a Shane Swearingen (Hilliard, Ohio / Bishop Watterson) double to left-center and O’Donnell’s second homer, this time to center, which made it 14-4. On the mound, Adam Samson (Orrville, Ohio / Orrville) overcame the shaky defense as well as some seeing-eye hits during the first two innings, settling down to get 13 in a row at one point. He went the first seven innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and one walk, and struck out four while upping his record to 7-1. O’Donnell ended up going 3-for-4 with three runs, three RBI, and a walk.

On May 4, Wooster banged out five home runs, but it was not enough as Ohio Wesleyan won a pair of games, 6-3 and 14-6, to take the best-of-three NCAC Tournament semifinal series. Despite losing by eight in the decisive game, the Scots had their chances. Trailing 9-3 going into the bottom of the sixth, Wooster first pulled within four on a Skulina two-run homer with one out. The Scots next three batters reached safely, bringing their top offensive threat to the plate in Sean Karpen (Venetia, Pa. / Peters Twp.), who hit a sharp liner. However, it was right at the third baseman, who stepped on third for an inning-ending double play. The Bishops later put a five-spot up on the board in the ninth to seal the victory. Earlier in the third game of the series, Ohio Wesleyan took a 1-0 lead on an RBI groundout in the second. Wooster tallied two that frame, including a Pat Christensen (Cincinnati, Ohio / Sycamore) solo home run – his 11th this season and No. 38 for his career. That would be the Scots only lead of the day, as the Bishops struck back with three tallies in the third, two in the fourth on a double just inside the left field line, and three more in the sixth. In Sunday’s first game, Ohio Wesleyan set the tone, batting around in the first inning, scoring four runs. Wooster got back into it with single tallies in the third and fourth on respective solo home runs by Karpen and Groezinger, and then added another in the fifth when Karpen led off with a double and eventually came home on a Groezinger sacrifice fly. Hanging on to a 4-3 lead, the Bishops managed a couple of insurance runs during the sixth, and despite bringing the tying run to the plate in the seventh and ninth, the Scots were held scoreless.

All-Tournament Team: For his winning effort in game one of the NCAC Tournament, pitcher Adam Samson (Orrville, Ohio / Orrville) was Wooster’s representative on the all-tourney team.

Perfect Ace: Wooster has not lost in the 21 games that Adam Samson (Orrville, Ohio / Orrville) has started over the last two seasons. He’s gone 18-1 (11-0, 1.61 ERA in 2007 and 7-1, 3.13 ERA thus far in 2008) over 30 total appearances during that time, with the lone loss coming in a relief outing at NCAA Div. I Kent State University (April 8, 2008). Noteworthy, the previous ace of the Scots’ staff, Jon Oliver, currently an assistant coach, did not suffer a loss on his record during 2005 (7-0, 2.29 ERA) and 2006 (8-0, 1.99 ERA), and over the last four seasons, Wooster is 41-3 when its ace starts a game.

Special Senior Class: The Scots’ group of seven seniors – Pat Christensen (Cincinnati, Ohio / Sycamore), Ben Downs (Latrobe, Pa. / Derry Area), Bubba O’Donnell (Cincinnati, Ohio / St. Xavier), Adam Samson (Orrville, Ohio / Orrville), Jake Sankal (Mentor, Ohio / Mentor), Dan Skulina (Hinckley, Ohio / Walsh Jesuit), and Brad Stuetzer (Wadsworth, Ohio / Wadsworth) – has a chance to go out as the winningest in team history. Since 2005, Wooster has compiled a 153-34 record (.818), which leaves them just three short of tying the Class of 2007 (156-35; .817) and the Class of 2000 (156-40; .796) for the most victories over a four-year period.

This and That: Sophomore closer Mark Miller (Convoy, Ohio / Crestview) has already set school and conference records for saves in a season with 13 in 15 opportunities. He ranks second in NCAA Div. III in that category, and has also broken Wooster records for single-season appearances (24) and career saves (21) this year ... Junior first baseman/outfielder Sean Karpen (Venetia, Pa. / Peters Twp.) is currently tied for 10th with seven others for most doubles by a Scot in a season (17) ... Senior right fielder Pat Christensen (Cincinnati, Ohio / Sycamore) is climbing up the charts in several of Wooster’s career categories. He’s currently tied for fifth in home runs (38), two shy of becoming just the fifth in team history to reach the 40-homer mark. Christensen also ranks ninth in at bats (574), 13th in runs scored (157), 11th in hits (196), 11th in doubles (41), 13th in RBI (155), 10th in total bases (353), and tied for 10th in hit by pitches (28) ... In the Scots’ pitching annals, it’s senior Adam Samson (Orrville, Ohio / Orrville) who is leaving his mark. The southpaw stands tied for fifth in career wins (28), sixth in winning percentage (28-5; .848), ninth in ERA (2.76), fifth in strikeouts (230), and eighth in innings pitched (247.2), as well as fourth in appearances (60) and fifth in games started (40) ... Wooster enters regional play with an uncharacteristic record of 9-7 over its last 16 games dating back to April 6 ... Two of the regional MVP’s when the Scots have won have been pitchers – Drew Binkowski in 1997 and Matt Rodgers in 1994 – while the others were shortstop Luke Ullman in 2005 and right fielder Brent Bizyak in 1989.