The College of Wooster, last year's national runner-up in the NCAA Div. III Baseball Championship, will attempt to make another memorable run through the postseason, starting with this week's seven-team regional tournament at Marietta, Ohio, where it is seeded No. 2 – the identical seeding that the Fighting Scots were given last spring at this time. Wooster is part of the field, which consists of eight regionals and 55 teams nationwide, for the seventh-straight year and 25th overall after winning the North Coast Athletic Conference championship on May 1, and thus acquiring the league's automatic berth. The double-elimination event starts Wednesday, May 19, with the Scots slated to play the No. 7 seed, Penn State Behrend (29-15), at 4:30 p.m. that afternoon at Don Schaly Stadium. The remaining squads are top-seeded Heidelberg University (37-6), third-seeded Marietta College (32-11), fourth-seeded Washington & Jefferson College (32-10), fifth-seeded Adrian College (29-11), and sixth-seeded Thomas More College (31-14). If the schedule holds up, the regional championship game(s) will take place Saturday, May 22, beginning at noon. For schedule updates, live statistics, ticket information, and more, log on to http://pioneers.marietta.edu/index.aspx?path=mideastregional&. The eight regional winners from across the country will advance to the double-elimination championship, which will be held at Fox Cities Stadium near Appleton, Wis., from May 27-June 1.
NCAA Tournament Notes: Wooster, entering its 25th Div. III tourney appearance, is an even 57-52 all-time (.523) in regional and national tournament games combined. The Scots only trail fellow traditional powers Eastern Connecticut State University (31), Ithaca College (33), Marietta College (31), and Montclair State University (25) in all-time regional appearances.
Wooster, which has gone 20-15 (.571) over seven NCAA tourneys during the 2000s, has won five previous regional titles (1989, 1994, 1997, 2005, 2009). The Scots' top national finishes were second-place in both 1997 and 2009, and they finished third in 2005.
Against the 2010 NCAA Field: Wooster played a challenging non-conference schedule this year, including eight games against teams that are in the NCAA Div. III Baseball Championship field. The Scots swept a road doubleheader against their first-round opponent, prevailing 2-1 and 15-8 over Penn State Behrend on April 11, and also out of this week's potential regional opponents, Wooster beat Marietta 4-3 the night of April 8 at Schaly Stadium and came out on top against Heidelberg 5-1 on April 14. During spring break, the Scots split a twinbill with Kean University, winning 4-1 March 14, and then dropping a wild 16-15 decision the next day against the eventual No. 2 seed in the NCAA regional at Trenton, N.J., and two more Wooster wins came versus Carthage College, 14-10 in the second game of the season (March 8), and Skidmore College, 3-1 in 13 innings (March 16). Carthage is now seeded fifth in the regional at Whitewater, Wis., while Skidmore nabbed the No. 4 seed in the Auburn, N.Y. regional.
Seed Talk: The Scots have been seeded No. 2 for the third consecutive year. Last spring, Wooster translated it into a regional championship, winning its first two games, 5-1 and 13-3 over Concordia University Chicago and Marietta, respectively, then losing 6-2 to Marietta before eliminating Adrian 8-2 and taking a rubber game against Marietta by a 4-3 score.
In 2008, the Scots had a third-place finish as a No. 2 seed, and prior to that, they had been the No. 1 seed at four-straight regionals (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) and six times overall (1998, 2002), combining to go 12-12 in such games. Prior to 1996, seedings at regionals were not published, while one of Wooster's most successful NCAA runs saw it start as a No. 3 seed at Marietta's 1997 regional.
Head Coach Tim Pettorini: The driving force behind one of the top programs in Div. III is Tim Pettorini (Bowling Green '73). Wooster's 29th-year head coach ranks among the top-10 in Div. III career victories via his 953-339-6 record, and he's guided the Scots to a league-record 13 North Coast Athletic Conference championships as well as the five regional titles.
NCAC Tournament Recap: Wooster won its league-leading 13th NCAC championship, taking all three games it played at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.
On April 29, the Scots kicked off their 2010 postseason in fine fashion, utilizing a four-run second inning to take the lead and then staving off a series of rallies by Wabash College en route to an 11-6 win in the teams' first game of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. All four runs in the second were unearned and three came in on consecutive two-out singles by Shane Swearingen, Matthew Johnson, and Luke Sutton. The teams exchanged two runs apiece in the next inning, with Wooster's half of the third including a Matt Groezinger leadoff triple and a Greg Van Horn double as the Scots gained a 6-2 cushion. Wooster added another tally during the fourth before Wabash pulled within 7-4 in the top of the fifth. The bottom of that frame saw Wooster answer again via a couple of unearned runs. The Little Giants kept battling and pulled within three again at 9-6 when Tyler Fugate was summoned from the bullpen in the sixth. Fugate pitched the remainder and kept Wabash off the scoreboard the last 3.1 innings, scattering just two hits and striking out three without a walk, and Johnson finished off the Little Giants with a two-run homer during the bottom of the seventh. Johnson wound up 4-for-5 with three RBI and also tallying multi-hit nights were Sutton (2-for-3 with three RBI), Van Horn (2-for-4 with an RBI), and Swearingen (2-for-3 with an RBI), while on the mound, starter Justin McDowell picked up the win (8-2) despite allowing six runs on eight hits during 5.2 innings.
On April 30, the Scots scored in five of the first seven innings, including four runs during the sixth, to steadily pull away from Denison University 12-2 in the winners' bracket game of the NCAC tourney. Ahead 4-1 going into the sixth, Michael Wellstead kick started Wooster's biggest inning of the day by beating out a grounder to shortstop. Chris Wood then successfully executed a sacrifice bunt – one of four on the day for the Scots, with Wellstead recording the other three. Shane Swearingen brought Wellstead the rest of the way with a sharply-hit single to left field and Matthew Johnson followed with a hard liner that sliced safely into centerfield. The biggest hit came from Stu Beath, who delivered a two-out, two-run double into right-center, just beyond the reach of the centerfielder, which made it a 7-1 score, and Matt Groezinger greeted a relief pitcher with a single up the middle, plating Beath before Denison could get out of the inning. The 8-1 lead was more than enough for Wooster starter Matt Barnes, who worked into the eighth inning. Overall, Barnes totaled 7.0 innings, during which he gave up the one run on nine hits and struck out six, as he improved to 6-2. Swearingen finished the day with a team-best three RBI, and Johnson, who started things by driving the third pitch of the game over the right-center field fence, and Van Horn went 3-for-6 and 3-for-5, respectively, to lead the way.
On May 1, the Scots came back from early 3-0 and 7-4 deficits, rallying for three runs during the fifth and sixth and four more in the seventh inning to knock out Denison by a 19-7 score and win the 2010 NCAC championship. Trailing by three entering the bottom of the third, Matthew Johnson sparked the offense with a leadoff double, and an out later, Stu Beath lined one to the right side for an RBI single. Then, Matt Groezinger tied it up with a hard shot that just cleared the right-field fence for a two-run homer – his first of three round-trippers on the day. The next at bat saw Greg Van Horn send a deep shot to left field. The ball hit high off the wall and away from the fielder, allowing him to come all the way around for an inside-the-park home run, and Wooster was suddenly ahead 4-3. The lead didn't last long, as the Big Red bounced back with three tallies in the fourth and one in the fifth for their second three-run advantage, but it was all Scots after that. They tied it up 7-7 during the bottom of the fifth, and in the sixth, Van Horn gave Wooster the lead for good when he rolled one into the left-center gap that got to the wall as he legged out an RBI triple. Van Horn covered the final 90 feet on a groundout and the Scots added another unearned run for a 10-7 lead. In the seventh, Wooster put the game away with four runs, highlighted by Groezinger's second home run, this time a shot just left of center that brought three runs in, making it a 14-7 margin. Groezinger also capped the scoring with another three-run homer, pulling it out to right field, giving him eight RBI on the day, which tied for the fourth-most in team history. On the mound, Keenan White picked up the win (2-0) after relieving for starter Matt DeGrand. White went 1.1 scoreless innings, yielding two hits and striking out a pair, and then Tyler Fugate came in for the three-inning save as he struck out four and gave up just two hits as well.
All-Tournament Team: Junior shortstop Greg Van Horn was named the Most Valuable Player of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. Over the three games, he went 8-for-13 with five runs, a double, a triple, a home run, and four RBI, while also walking twice.
Also taking spots on the all-tournament team for the Scots were junior pitcher Tyler Fugate, senior first baseman Matt Groezinger, senior second baseman Matthew Johnson, and senior catcher Shane Swearingen.
This and That: Wooster has extended its streak of consecutive 30-win seasons to 17 ... With a 155-36 record (.812), the Scots' nine-member senior class is five victories shy of breaking the Class of 2009 (159-38; .807) for the most wins over a four-year period ... Wooster has been ranked between No. 2 and No. 7 throughout the season by D3baseball.com (currently No. 4) ... The Scots broke an NCAA Div. III record April 24 when they tripled four times in the same inning against Hiram College. The previous mark had been shared by seven teams before Wooster sprayed four three-baggers in the bottom of the fifth of an eventual 15-3 victory. Two came from Matt Groezinger, tying a Div. III individual record for triples in an inning, and Matthew Johnson and Greg Van Horn had the others ... The Scots played a game at the Cleveland Indians' Progressive Field for the third consecutive year and whipped Case Western Reserve University 13-5 on April 21, highlighted by a three-run homer for Matt Groezinger into the seats in right-center ... Three of the regional MVP's when the Scots have won have been pitchers – Justin McDowell in 2009, Drew Binkowski in 1997, and Matt Rodgers in 1994 – while the others were shortstop Luke Ullman in 2005 and right fielder Brent Bizyak in 1989.