BOX SCORES: GAME 3 | GAME 4
TIFFIN, Ohio - The Wayne State University baseball team (16-7, 7-3) swept Sunday's doubleheader at Tiffin University (9-14, 3-7) to take three out of four games in the weekend series at Heminger Field.
Wayne State scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning to win the first game Sunday, 4-3. The Warriors won the series finale, 10-5.
WSU will host Northwood next weekend, April 6-7, in a four-game GLIAC series.
GAME 3: WAYNE STATE 4, TIFFIN 3
After the Dragons scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the score,
Andrew Ciennik (Waterford, Mich./Mott) drove in the final go-ahead run in the top of the seventh with an RBI single.
Billy Hurley (Mississauga, Ont./St. Aloysius Gonzaga) came on in relief of
Ethan Vasiliauskas (South Rockwood, Mich./Carleton Airport) to pick up his sixth save of the season.
The Warriors totaled a season-high 14 hits.
Andrew Ciennik went 3-for-4 with two RBI, while four others –
Brad Guenther (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline),
Alex Trojan (Fenton, Mich./Hartland),
Kyle Zimmerman (Frankfort, Mich.) and
Kasey Koster (Portage, Mich./Central) – had two hits each.
Vasiliauskas (5-0), who entered the game with four wins over seven relief appearances, allowed just two earned runs on six hits over six innings in his first WSU start.
Doubles by
Justin DeFrancis (Rochester, Mich./Stoney Creek) and
Andrew Ciennik produced a run in the top of the first. Tiffin tied it in the bottom of the third on an RBI double by Pat Curtin, one of his three hits in the game.
Guenther drove in a run with a base hit in the fifth, and a sacrifice fly by
Kenny Davis (Wyoming, Mich./Lee) in the sixth inning made it a 3-1 game.
Curtin led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple and scored on Jordan Chiero's double. Cheiro later scored on a sacrifice fly by Cory Osborne.
Guenther, who led off the seventh with a triple, scored on
Andrew Ciennik's base hit to left. As Hurley came in to preserve the win, K.C. Weber was picked off after drawing a walk and Ryan Williams was left stranded after hitting a one-out triple.
Chris Pistorio (1-2) took the loss in relief of Eric Klepper, who allowed 10 hits but struck out eight over six innings.
GAME 4: WAYNE STATE 10, TIFFIN 5
Wayne State scored four runs in the fifth inning and four in the seventh, while Tiffin only responded with two runs in each frame.
Guenther,
Kyle Vesey (Brighton, Mich.),
Chris Gebara (Troy, Mich.) and Koster each finished with two hits. Trojan, Vesey and Koster also each had two runs batted in.
Vesey's RBI single in the top of the first gave WSU a lead which held until Curtin drove in a run with a grounder in the third.
Starting WSU's five-run fifth inning was Koster's second home run of the series. Trojan drove in a pair with a base hit,
Andrew Ciennik scored on a wild pitch and Zimmerman hit a sacrifice fly.
Consecutive RBI singles by Roger Christensen and Curtin in the bottom of the fifth made it a 5-3 game. In the seventh, Vesey's one-out double produced a run, as did an RBI single by Zimmerman and a sacrifice fly by Koster. Vesey also scored on a wild pitch.
Tiffin's two-run seventh inning spoiled the potential complete-game victory for
Greg Spiess (Saline, Mich.), but he still came away with his first win as a Warrior.
Kirk Stambaugh (Sylvania, Ohio/Southview) came in to record the final out.
The first of four pitchers used by the Dragons, Jordan Liette (2-3) allowed three earned runs on five hits in 4.1 innings. He walked three and struck out four.
NOTES
Koster went 8-for-13 (.615) with three extra-base hits and four RBI in the series … last year's four-game series produced similar results, as the Dragons won the opener before WSU earned three straight victories … Trojan has a 13-game hitting streak and has reached base in 15 straight … both marks are the longest by a Warrior this season.