An RBI single by
Jackson Blevins and a sacrifice fly from
Andrew Jumonville provided Wabash with a lead in the tenth inning that eventually ended in a 10-9 victory at Manchester Sunday.
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Wabash (22-9) held an 8-4 lead through seven innings before Manchester (16-16) scored four runs in the bottom half of the eighth inning to even the score and send the game into extra innings. The Little Giants led off the tenth with a single from
Henry Wannemuehler, then moved pinch runner
Nick Chao to second with a sacrifice bunt. After Chao stole third base and
Sean Roginski drew a walk, Blevins drilled a single up the middle to score Chao with the go-ahead run. Roginski moved to third on a wild pitch and scored the much-needed insurance run on Jumonville's sacrifice fly to right field.
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The Spartans collected a pair of singles in the bottom half of the tenth, scoring a run with a sacrifice of their own to trim the lead to one run.
Zach Moffett retired the final batter of the game to earn his sixth save of the season. Moffett worked one inning of relief and allowed one run on two hits.
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Kase Lawson earned his first collegiate victory with one inning of relief work allowing one hit and striking out one batter.
Tyler Cooper pitched 4-2/3 innings in his second start of the season. He gave up two earned runs on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
Eric Murphy,
Erich Lange,
Billy Johnson, and
Kevin O'Donnell each pitched in relief for the Little Giants prior to Lawson's appearance.
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Wabash took an early lead, scoring three runs in the third inning. Blevins singled home run in the third, then moved to third on an RBI single from
Bryce Aldridge. Blevins scored the third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Jumonville to put the Little Giants up 3-0.
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Manchester answered with a run in the bottom of the inning, but the Little Giant offense exploded for four runs in the top of the fourth in response. Wannemuehler laced a two-run double down the left field line to score
Joe House and
Tyler Downing. Roginski added an RBI single to push the lead to 6-1 before a double by Blevins add one more run to make it 7-1. The Spartans pushed a pair of runs across in the fifth inning to draw closer. The teams traded runs in the seventh. Wabash scored its run on and RBI single by
Jared Wolfe.
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The Spartans tied the game with a four-spot in the bottom of the eighth, scoring all four runs with two outs to force the tenth-inning rally by the Little Giants.
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Blevins finished with three RBI for the day, going 4-of-5 at the plate with a double. Wolfe, Jumonville, and Wannemuehler each drove in two runs in the victory.
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Wabash returns to action Monday afternoon at Goodrich Ballpark in a non-conference contest against Mount St. Joseph University beginning at 4 p.m.
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