Timely Hitting, Solid Pitching Key Scots’ 6-3 Win in Elimination Game

Stu Beath

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The College of Wooster used a two-out rally in the fifth inning to break a 2-2 tie, then added a pair of runs during the sixth for a 5-2 cushion, and went on to a 6-3 victory Thursday afternoon, eliminating sixth-seeded Transylvania University from the NCAA Div. III Mideast Regional Tournament at Art Nehf Field.

Wooster (35-10), the No. 2 seed, is next scheduled to play Friday at 3:30 p.m., with its opponent not to be determined until later today.

Both teams scored a pair of runs in the first inning and it remained knotted until the fifth. With two outs that frame, the top of the Fighting Scots’ order came up and Jake Sankal (Mentor, Ohio / Mentor), Stu Beath (St. Louis, Mo. / Avon Old Farms – Conn.), and Sean Karpen (Venetia, Pa. / Peters Twp.) each grounded singles through the infield, with Karpen’s plating Sankal to make it a 3-2 game.

Wooster would never relinquish that lead. After Anthony Trapuzzano (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Canevin Catholic) overcame a pair of walks during the bottom of the fifth, stranding runners on the corners, the Scots’ offense continued the momentum in the sixth. Pat Christensen (Cincinnati, Ohio / Sycamore) led off by reaching via a hit by pitch, and an out later, Matthew Pierce (Oklahoma City, Okla. / Casady School) dropped a single into right to score Christensen. With two outs, Bubba O’Donnell (Cincinnati, Ohio / St. Xavier) came up with a key hit, brining home Pierce on a double to the right-center gap, which made it a three-run advantage.

Transylvania (31-14) tried to get back into the game during the bottom of the seventh, earning a leadoff walk. Matt Barnes (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Langley) was summoned to the mound at that point. The runner eventually scored, thanks in large part to a one-out, two-base error, however, Barnes averted further damage.

In fact, Barnes would go on to work perfect eighth and ninth innings, sandwiched around a Wooster insurance run when Karpen beat out a double-play ball, for his first career save.

Trapuzzano pitched the first six-plus innings for the win (8-3). All three runs he allowed were unearned on four hits and four walks, and he set down seven on strikes.

Offensively for the Scots, the top-three in the lineup accounted for eight of the team’s 11 base hits. Beath led the way with a career-best 4-for-5 outing, including an RBI double in the first, while Sankal was 2-for-4 with two runs scored from the leadoff spot and Karpen went 2-for-5 with two RBI in the No. 3 hole.

The Pioneers did not have any players with more than one hit, while their starting pitcher, Ben Luking, worked into the eighth, but took the loss (8-2) after yielding five runs on 10 hits.