Adrian Upends Scots 4-3 in NCAA Mideast Regional Opener

Pat Christensen drove this pitch down the left field line for an eighth-inning double, marking the 200th hit of his career.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Adrian College strung together three consecutive two-out singles in the top of the ninth inning to plate a single run and then overcame a pair of base hits by The College of Wooster during the bottom of the ninth to hang on for a 4-3 victory in the teams’ opening game of the NCAA Div. III Mideast Regional Tournament at Art Nehf Field Wednesday afternoon.

Wooster (34-10), the No. 2 seed, will now play sixth-seeded Transylvania University (31-13) in an elimination game on Thursday, starting at noon, while fifth-seeded Adrian (31-10) heads to the winners’ bracket.

The Fighting Scots had tied it 3-3 on Stu Beath’s (St. Louis, Mo. / Avon Old Farms – Conn.) leadoff home run in the bottom of the eighth. With one out that frame, Pat Christensen (Cincinnati, Ohio / Sycamore) doubled down the right field line, marking his fourth hit of the day and the 200th of his career – just the 10th in school history to reach that milestone. He would be stranded there, as following a hit by pitch, reliever Nick Vandike entered and induced an inning-ending double play.

The top of the ninth started innocently enough, with starter Adam Samson (Orrville, Ohio / Orrville) getting the first two batters out on routine grounders. Then, Nate Sarkissian started the rally for Adrian, lifting a blooper down the line just out of the reach of the first baseman and right fielder. Alex Cowart followed with a single through the left side, which brought Wooster reliever Mark Miller (Convoy, Ohio / Crestview) into the game. He fell behind 2-1 to Bobby Rickstad, who then delivered a single through the right side and Sarkissian scored from second, beating the throw from Christensen as the ball rolled slowly through the wet grass.

Miller prevented any further damage and then Matthew Pierce (Oklahoma City, Okla. / Casady School) opened the bottom of the frame with a sharp single through the left side. On the very next pitch, he was caught stealing during an attempted hit-and-run. With two outs, Sean Karpen (Venetia, Pa. / Peters Twp.) lined a single to left and promptly stole second for the second time in the game. Vandike finished off Wooster, striking out the next hitter looking.

The Scots had taken a 2-0 lead after one inning via a two-out, two-run homer from Matt Groezinger (Upper Arlington, Ohio / Upper Arlington).

In the third, the Bulldogs took advantage of a two-out error, which put runners on second and third. Coward and Rickstad followed with back-to-back infield singles to tie it 2-2.

Adrian’s first three batters of the fourth all had hits, capped by Alexander Younce’s RBI double for a 3-2 lead. Samson settled down, forcing the next two into pop-ups and got out of the inning on a grounder to shortstop.

Samson would go on to work 8.2 innings in all. Two of the four runs were unearned and four of the 12 hits did not get out of the infield, as he was the tough-luck loser (7-2).

This marks the first time Wooster has lost when Samson’s been the starting pitcher over the last two seasons – a stretch of 21 games entering the NCAA regional.

Offensively, Christensen was a perfect 4-for-4 with two doubles to lead all players, while Beath went 2-for-4 with two of the Scots’ three runs and Pierce singled in both of his at bats after entering the game at the start of the bottom of the seventh.

For the Bulldogs, Vandike earned the win (5-0) after working 1.2 scoreless innings and Brian Billus batted 3-for-4.