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| Drew Tornow |
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio – The College of Wooster's late-game comeback attempt was denied by Oberlin College, as the Yeomen prevailed 11-6 in Thursday afternoon's winners' bracket game of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, which is taking place at VA Memorial Stadium.
Wooster (34-8) now faces an elimination game Thursday at 10 a.m.
Oberlin (17-25) hit its way to an 11-2 lead through seven innings, then the Fighting Scots' potent offensive attack made things interesting. After the first batter of the eighth inning popped out, the next eight reached base successfully, starting with a Frank Vance double into the left-field corner, Jamie Lackner hit by pitch, and John McLain single to load the bases.
Next, Drew Tornow lined a sharp RBI single to right to knock out Yeomen starter Sean Kiley, who had thrown 128 pitches. Pinch hitter Kevin Hagen drew an RBI walk from the reliever and Ryan Ostendorf plated another when he singled into left-center, as Wooster crept within 11-5, still with the bases loaded and one out.
Oberlin went to the bullpen again, and Milo Sklar induced the first hitter he faced into an inning-ending 4-3 double play.
Sklar walked the leadoff man in the ninth and he eventually scored on a two-out base knock to center from Lackner, but that was as close the Scots got.
Wooster made Kiley work hard just to get out of the very first inning, as it loaded the bases with one out, including hits by Jake Kail and Vance. McLain walked for the game's first run and Tornow brought another across on a fielder's choice play.
Kiley needed 35 pitches in that first inning, but then yielded just two singles and a hit by pitch until running out of gas in the eighth. He improved to 5-3.
The Yeomen gave him a sizable lead with a single tally in the first, five in the second, highlighted by a Benjamin Whitener three-run homer, one in the third, one in the fifth, two in the sixth, and another in the seventh.
Six of the Scots' nine hits came from Vance (2-for-5), Lackner (2-for-4), and Ostendorf (2-for-4).