Wooster ace Josh Stidham sets to fire a pitch during Wednesday's eventual 8-4 loss in NCAA regional action at Marietta, Ohio.

MARIETTA, Ohio – Adrian College took advantage of two eighth-inning errors by The College of Wooster, scoring three unearned runs to break open what had been a 5-4 game and the Bulldogs secured the 8-4 win Wednesday in the teams' opening game of the NCAA Div. III Baseball Championship regional, hosted by Marietta College.

Wooster (27-17) will now attempt to make its way through the losers' bracket, starting Thursday at 1 p.m., against either Manchester College or Washington & Jefferson College.

Adrian (36-8) and the Fighting Scots had played a closely-contested, one-run game since the end of the first inning, but those back-to-back errors in the eighth helped the Bulldogs load the bases with one out. Then, Andrew DeLuca delivered an opposite-field single, about 10 feet inside the left line, to make it 6-4, and Garrett Green followed suit with a base knock into left that plated two for a four-run cushion.

During the top of the ninth, Wooster put a pair of base runners on, as Billy Farrow was hit by a pitch with one out and Johnathan Ray found a hole through the right side for a single, but was unable to bring the tying run to the plate.

The Scots got off to a hot start. In fact, they scored all four of their runs in the first inning. Zach Jergan watched four pitches out of the strike zone to lead off the game with a walk, then Eddie Reese bounced a double to the wall in right, and Farrow drove in Jergan via a sacrifice fly.

Wooster was just getting started, though, with Ray singling into center to bring Reese around from second base without a throw. Later in the frame, with two outs, Jake Zeek contributed an RBI bloop single just beyond the second baseman's outstretched glove and Bryan Miller added a line-drive base knock into left field to make it 4-0. 

The most important at bat of the game may have come in the bottom of the first. The Scots' starter, Josh Stidham, looked like he might get out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam, but instead, R.J. Rio cleared the bases with a double into the left-center gap.

Three consecutive one-out singles in the second inning allowed Adrian to tie it.

The Bulldogs gained the lead for the first time in the bottom of the fifth when Green drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Kyle Strawn's single into centerfield.

Wooster left two runners on base during both the seventh and eighth innings.

Stidham took the loss (7-3), allowing five runs over five innings, while Jason Fryman settled down after the first inning and picked up the victory (11-1). He went seven innings before Brent Greenwood entered and notched a save with two scoreless innings, scattering three hits.