Ohio Wesleyan 5, Ithaca 3

May 14, 2008

Sophomore catcher Steve Ruygrok (Centennial, Colo./Cherry Creek) singled in a run during a 4-run sixth-inning rally and made a pivotal defensive play in the bottom of the ninth as Ohio Wesleyan held off an Ithaca rally to take a win in Game 4 of the NCAA Division III New York Regional tournament on Wednesday in Auburn, N.Y.

Ohio Wesleyan advances to face Rensselaer (N.Y.) in a winner's bracket game at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, while Ithaca will take on Farmingdale (N.Y.) State in an elimination game at 1:15 p.m. on Thursday.

The Bishops broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth when senior outfielder Brent Wilkins (Fairview Park/Fairview) led off with a single and senior first baseman A.J. Dote (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) followed with a walk. Sophomore third baseman Eric McComas (Beverly Hills, Mich,/Birmingham Groves) moved the runners up with a sacrifice, and the strategy paid off when freshman outfielder Scott Wise (Delaware/Hayes) looped a flare to center to score Wilkins with the go-ahead run. Ruygrok followed with an RBI single to make it a 3-1 game. Senior second baseman Jerrell Johnson (Shaker Heights) then forced Ruygrok at second base, but Bomber first baseman Eric Ferguson could not dig the relay throw from second baseman Dylan Perez out of the dirt, with Wise displaying alert baserunning by scoring on the play and Johnson advancing to second when Ferguson threw wildly to the plate. Senior outfielder Joey McDaniel (Dublin/Scioto) followed with a single to score Johnson for a 5-1 Bishop lead.

Senior righthander Sean Speed (Cincinnati/St. Xavier) took that lead into the ninth, but Ithaca rallied, scoring a run on a pair of errors by junior shortstop Logan Hronis (Rocky River/St. Edward) and an infield single. Matt Samela followed with a walk to load the bases before David Ahonen flared a single to right to bring the Bombers within 5-3.

McDaniel relieved Speed at that point, coming on to face Shane Wolf. Wolf hit a chopper off the plate, with Ruygrok grabbing the ball, stepping on the plate to force pinch-runner Jon Krakower and throwing to first to get Wolf for the second out. Rob Raux then lined a shot off McDaniel that caromed to Johnson, who made the play at first base to end the game.

Ohio Wesleyan had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Johnson legged out an infield single, moved to second on a wild pitch, took third on a single by McDaniel and scored on a fielder's choice by freshman outfielder Zach Frentsos (Delaware/Hayes).

The Bombers evened the game in the fifth as T.J. Abone reached on a fielder's choice, took second on an infield out and scored on Samela's RBI single.

McDaniel, Hronis, Wilkins and Ruygrok each collected 2 hits for Ohio Wesleyan.

Speed pitched the first 8-plus innings, allowing 9 hits while striking out 3 and walking 3, to collect the win. McDaniel got the last 3 outs for his second save of the season.

Box Score