AUBURNDALE, Fla. - The Wayne State University baseball team (9-4) wrapped up its participation in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational with a 4-3 walkoff victory over Mount Vernon Nazarene (8-4) on Friday night at Lake Myrtle Park.

As Justin DeFrancis (Rochester, Mich./Stoney Creek) was stealing second base with one out in the bottom of the ninth, an errant throw by Cougars catcher Clint Spencer allowed Brad Guenther (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline) to score from third and win the game for the Warriors.

DeFrancis, who is 12-for-25(.480) during his current eight-game hitting streak, had two hits Friday including a leadoff single in the first inning.  He eventually came around to score on an RBI single by Chris Gebara (Troy, Mich.).

The Cougars took the lead with two unearned runs stemming from a WSU error in the top of the third, but the Warriors immediately responded in the bottom half as Andrew Ciennik (Waterford, Mich./Mott) scored on a wild pitch and Kyle Vesey (Brighton, Mich.) doubled in Alex Trojan (Fenton, Mich./Hartland).

Wayne State escaped trouble in the eighth on an unusual play.  With the bases loaded and one out, Harpst grounded to third and Trojan threw home to Guenther to get the lead runner.  Guenther's throw to first hit Harpst, who was ruled out via interference for running out of the base path.

Guenther led off the bottom of the ninth with a base hit which chased Cougars starter Justin Brown from the game.  Kyle Zimmerman (Frankfort, Mich.) sacrificed to move Guenther to second, and a base hit by DeFrancis put runners at the corners which set up the stolen base and subsequent error to win the game.

The first of four pitchers used by Wayne State, Zimmerman allowed just two hits and one earned run in five innings.  He walked a pair and struck out three, but the victory went to Billy Hurley (Mississauga, Ont./St. Aloysius Gonzaga) who pitched a scoreless ninth inning.


NOTES
Friday was the first ever meeting between Wayne State and Mount Vernon Nazarene … Hurley's 38th career relief appearance moved him into a tie for fourth all-time at WSU with Jesse Gerwatowski (1993-96) … DeFrancis has four multiple-hit games this season.