Chris Wood slides in with the regional-winning run.

ADRIAN, Mich. – A wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth allowed pinch runner Chris Wood (Lebanon, Ohio / Lebanon) to come home, lifting The College of Wooster to a 4-3 victory in a back-and-forth championship game with rival Marietta College to close the NCAA Div. III Mideast Regional Tournament on Monday afternoon at Adrian College's Nicolay Field.

Wooster (39-9), now a five-time regional champion (1989, 1994, 1997, 2005, 2009), is headed to the finals of the NCAA Div. III Baseball Championship in Grand Chute, Wis., which beings play Friday at 10 a.m. CDT.

After Marietta (32-17) tied it at three with two outs during the top half of the ninth, Michael DeBord  (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio / Woodridge) opened the bottom of the frame with an opposite-field double, sending a 2-1 pitch toward the right field corner. Next, Shane Swearingen (Hilliard, Ohio / Bishop Watterson) made amends for not being able to lay down a sacrifice bunt as he sent a deep drive to right-center, easily advancing Wood, who took DeBord's place, to third.

Following a delay for a defensive replacement and meeting on the mound, the very next pitch was outside. The catcher was only able to get part of his glove on it and Wood broke immediately for the plate, beating the desperation throw relatively easily, and moments later, he was mobbed in celebration by Scot teammates.

Both starting pitchers, Mark Miller (Convoy, Ohio / Crestview) of Wooster and the Pioneers' Chris Stewart, were masterful through five innings, matching each other with zeroes on the scoreboard.

In fact, Marietta's first hit off of Miller did not come until the sixth inning when Cameron Cimino led off with a single to right field. During the next at bat, he moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on a nicely executed sacrifice bunt by Chris Beatty. With one out and the infield playing in, Casey Levens delivered an opposite field single into right, scoring Cimino.

The Fighting Scots answered right away. With two outs in their half of the sixth, Matt Groezinger (Columbus, Ohio / Upper Arlington) worked his way into a 3-2 count and eventually walked, which was followed by Matthew Pierce (Oklahoma City, Okla. / Casady School) launching a 1-1 offering over the left-center fence for his fifth home run of the season and a 2-1 Wooster lead.

The two teams also exchanged tallies in the seventh. First, a couple of Scot defensive miscues helped bring a tying run across, as after a Kirby Becker leadoff walk, he moved to second and third on back-to-back sacrifice bunts, both of which also included Wooster errors to make the based loaded with no outs. Miller induced the next hitter into a 4-6-3 double play, which helped limit the damage to one run.

The Scots caught a significant break in the bottom of the seventh, when with two outs, John Warren (New Castle, Pa. / Union Area) lifted a towering infield pop-up and the ball was lost in the sun by the second baseman, which allowed Sean Karpen (Venetia, Pa. / Peters Twp.) to trot home from third with a go-ahead run. Karpen had kept the inning alive during the previous at bat by driving a ball off the wall in left-center and sprinting his way to a triple.

Scots hoist the NCAA Div. III Mideast Region trophy.

The Pioneers, who left two runners on base in the eighth, rallied one last time. After opening the ninth with a routine grounder, Miller hit the next batter, who then moved to second on another groundout. With two outs, leadoff hitter John Snyder pounded a ball into the turf to the left field side. The ball went over  the head of the Wooster third baseman and, as he reached back, it glanced off his glove into left field, and Kyle Lindquist scored to even the back-and-forth game, 3-3.

Miller went the distance for the third time this season, but it was the first nine-inning complete game of his career. He limited Marietta to the three runs (two earned) on five hits and a couple of walks, while earning his second win of the tournament to improve to 10-1 overall.

For his efforts, Miller was voted to the all-tourney team and fellow pitcher Justin McDowell (Willard, Ohio / Willard), who also won two games, received the tournament MVP.

Offensively in the championship game, Pierce and DeBord each went 3-for-4, and Karpen added a couple of hits (2-for-4).

Stu Beath (St. Louis, Mo. / Avon Old Farms – Conn.), who batted .363 overall (8-for-22), also represented the Scots on the all-tourney team.