Ryan Ostendorf, pictured here squaring to bunt, and the Scots lost a tough one Thursday night, and will now have to win five in a row to take the regional championship. (photo courtesy of Bret Billhardt, North Coast Athletic Conference)

WASHINGTON, Pa. – With two outs and a runner on first in the top of the ninth inning, Jake Fling doubled into the left-field corner, however, Randolph-Macon College threw out the pinch runner at home to preserve a 2-1 win in an NCAA Div. III Championships regional winner's bracket semifinal game Thursday night at Ross Memorial Park.

Wooster (35-12), the No. 3 seed, will next take on eighth-seeded Widener University in an elimination game Friday at 1:15 p.m.

Rick Spiers pitched a gem for second-seeded Randolph-Macon (33-7-1), but the Fighting Scots nearly spoiled it with some two-out magic in the ninth. First, Chandler Dippman dropped a single into centerfield and speedy freshman Jacob Stuursma pinch ran for him. Fling ripped the first pitch he saw into left and the ball reached the wall, however, left fielder Cole Migliorini cleanly picked it up, hit the relay man – second baseman Jordan Schmeer, an eighth-inning defensive replacement – who in turn threw to Mitchell Keeler, and the catcher placed the tag on Stuursma a few feet from the plate.

Fling also offered at the first pitch of the game and singled up the middle, which led to an eventual run. Following a fielder's choice play and a one-out walk to Michael Wielansky, Jamie Lackner produced an RBI single, finding a hole through the right side. Wooster would have scored again had it not been for a nice diving catch by Migliorini on Drew Tornow's liner to end the first.

From there, Spiers barely outdueled Nanak Saran. The Scots' sophomore right-hander stranded runners in scoring position three of the first four innings, highlighted by the fourth when he got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam by inducing a grounder back to the mound that he threw to home for an out and then getting the next to hit a popup to shortstop.

The Yellow Jackets did push one across in the fifth, manufacturing a run after Jeffrey Butler's leadoff double down the line in left.

Randolph-Macon also began the sixth inning with a double, this time off the bat of Nick Maiolo, and it gained a 2-1 lead when, with Wooster's infield playing in,  Migliorini hit a high bouncer off the turf to the shortstop that glanced off the top of his glove, which allowed the runner to get home.

After the first, the Scots were only able to get a runner in scoring position in the third and fifth innings, as Spiers's complete-game effort consisted of eight hits and two walks allowed. He matched a season high with nine strikeouts and upped his record to 6-4.

Saran was the tough-luck loser (5-3), throwing a quality start of 6.0-plus innings, in which he gave up just one earned run (two total) on seven hits and a walk.

Noteworthy, Michael Whitaker pitched the last 1.1 innings, which marked his 74th career appearance – a new school record. Whitaker surpasses former All-American Mark Miller, who had 73 from 2007-09.

Lackner continued his hot hitting as went 3-for-4 and is now 5-for-7 with four RBI at the regional tourney, while Fling went 2-for-5.

Butler was the lone Yellow Jacket with multiple hits (2-for-2 with a hit by pitch).