Justin McDowell

ADRIAN, Mich. – Behind a complete-game pitching performance from Justin McDowell (Willard, Ohio / Willard) and another early scoring outburst, The College of Wooster advanced to the championship of the NCAA Div. III Mideast Regional Tournament with an 8-2 defeat of the host school, Adrian College, on Sunday afternoon at Nicolay Field.

Wooster (38-9) will play Marietta College (32-16) in the tourney's final game on Monday, beginning at noon. The two Ohio rivals have already met twice during the regional, with the Fighting Scots winning the first, 13-3, and Marietta surviving an elimination game earlier Sunday, 6-2.

After giving up a handful of unearned runs in its initial game Sunday, Wooster was the beneficiary of a series of early errors by Adrian (33-11). In the first, Luke Sutton (Galion, Ohio / Galion) sent a one-out single up the middle, and with two outs, Matt Groezinger (Columbus, Ohio / Upper Arlington) drove an RBI double into the right-field corner. Groezinger ended up on third due to an error during the play and then came home via a wild pitch, giving the Scots multiple runs in the first inning for the fourth time in as many games this regional.

The Bulldogs tied it up with a two-out, two-run rally in the bottom of the first, however, they committed two critical second-inning errors. Back-to-back miscues put runners on second and third with one out, and Sean Karpen (Venetia, Pa. / Peters Twp.) plated one run on a groundout, followed by a Sutton RBI base knock for a 4-2 lead.

Wooster gained a 7-2 cushion during the fourth inning. After giving up a Michael DeBord (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio / Woodridge) one-out single and back-to-back hit by pitches, Adrian's coaches made a call to the bullpen. Karpen greeted the reliever with a two-run single through the left side, and Sutton continued his hot bat by driving a single to centerfield for another tally.

DeBord and Karpen teamed up for another run in the sixth, as the former led off the inning with a single and the latter blooped a two-out RBI double down the right-field line, extending the lead to six (8-2).

That was plenty of support for McDowell, who was also the winning pitcher in the Scots' opening game on Thursday. After giving up a few hard-hit balls early, he settled down and went the distance for the third time this season, but the first nine-inning complete game.

Adrian managed six hits off of McDowell, and only one after the fourth inning. He got stronger as the game wore on, setting down the side in order in the fifth, seventh, and ninth innings. McDowell struck out eight, compared to just one walk, and he now holds a 12-2 record.

Offensively for the game, Karpen drove in four runs during a 2-for-5 effort, Sutton had a game-high three hits (3-for-4) and two RBI, and DeBord also added a couple of hits (2-for-4).

On Monday, Wooster will be seeking its fifth NCAA regional championship, with the most recent coming in 2005. The last time Marietta and Wooster met in a regional championship game was 1989 when the Scots prevailed 4-0 for their first-ever trip to the eight-team Div. III National Championship Series.