Top three seeds — Wright State, UIC, and Milwaukee — remain in #HLBase Championship
Lance Rinker
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | BRACKET
No. 1 Wright State 11, No. 5 Youngstown State 1 | BOX SCORE
DAYTON, Ohio — The Wright State bats led the way and the pitching was strong as the Raiders defeated Youngstown State 11-1 in their first game of the 2018 Horizon League Championship Thursday afternoon at WSU's Nischwitz Stadium.
Scoring runs in each of the first five innings, the Raiders scored two RBI by a Bentley Jones single in the second and a bases-clearing double from Chase Slone in the third highlighted the offense. JD Orr had three hits on the day with a double and two of the Raiders' six stolen bases as lead-off hitter Matt Morrow collected two hits and an RBI.
Starting pitcher Ryan Weiss threw 58 pitches over four innings, allowing just one earned run with six strikeouts as Mitch Gremling picked up his second win of the season, shutting out the Penguins over five innings with four strikeouts.
The Raiders, now 37-15, will play the winner of the UIC Friday at Noon. The Flames defeated Milwaukee 6-0 Thursday afternoon. All games can be watched through ESPN+.
Read more at WSURaiders.com.
No. 2 UIC 6, No. 3 Milwaukee 0 | BOX SCORE
DAYTON, Ohio — UIC blanked Milwaukee for the fourth time in as many meetings this season as the Flames topped the Panthers in their first game of the 2018 Horizon League Baseball Championship Thursday afternoon at Nischwitz Stadium, 6-0.
The Horizon League Pitcher of the Year
Ryan Campbell was nothing short of sensational on the mound for UIC (29-16). Following a single with one down in the top of the second inning, the senior retired 23 consecutive Panthers (25-27) to finish off his League-leading fifth complete game of the season. It was the Carmel, Ind., native's second time going the distance without allowing a run against Milwaukee. He allowed only two hits, struck out five and did not walk a hitter Thursday, throwing 95 pitches.
Matt Bottcher had a career-high three hits, while
Aaron Ackerman drove in a pair of runs to pace the offense. The top five batters in the Flames lineup –
Derrick Patrick, Bottcher,
Dominic Smith,
Scott Ota and Ackerman – hit .524 (11-for-21) with three RBI and six runs scored.
The Flames advance to face top-seeded Wright State on Friday, May 25 at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT. The Raiders knocked off No. 5 Youngstown State earlier Thursday, 11-1.
Read more at UICFlames.com.
No. 3 Milwaukee 3, No. 5 Youngstown State 1 | BOX SCORE
DAYTON, Ohio — A record setting performance by pitcher
Jared Reklaitis helped the Milwaukee baseball team stave off elimination from the Horizon League Baseball Championship with a 3-1 victory over Youngstown State Thursday evening from Nischwitz Stadium.
Reklaitis threw a one-run, complete game, walking just one batter while striking out 15 Penguins. The 15 strikeouts ties a Milwaukee single game strikeout record, set by
Austin Schulfer earlier this season against NKU and sets a Horizon League Tournament record set back in 2010 at 13.
"Jared picked us up in a big way," said Milwaukee head coach
Scott Doffek. "You can't ask anything more from a guy who pitches 114 pitches, 81 of those pitches as strikes and 15 strikeouts – it was really special."
Offensively, Milwaukee jumped out to take the lead right away in the first inning scoring one run on four hits.
Trevor Schwecke crossed the plate first when
Mike Ferri singled up the middle followed by an infield single by
Tyler Bordner to load the bases. First team All-League
Ben Chally then ripped a shot in his third pitch of the at-bat, but the ball found the shortstops glove for an inning ending double play.
The Panthers struck again In the bottom of the sixth, adding two insurance runs taking advantage of a Penguin error. With
Ben Chally and
Mitch Bubanalready on base,
Devin Rybacki ripped a bases clearing double extending the lead to three runs.
Youngstown State finally cracked the scoreboard and tallied a run on in the top of the eighth inning stringing together two hits, but the run came unearned after a Panther fielding error. Reklaitis closed the door in the next at-bat, however, by striking out leadoff hitter Trey Bridis to end the inning.
The game didn't end without a little drama, however, when YSU led off the inning with a walk and eventually brought the go-ahead run to the plate. With two outs, runners on second and third, Reklaitis did what he had done all game by pounding the zone and ending the game with a strikeout. Despite the two runners on base, Reklaitis struck out the side in the ninth to tie the record and marks just the 12
th time in program history where a pitcher recorded 12 strikeouts or more in a game.
The Panthers finished with 11 hits and
Colin Kreiter leading the way. Kreiter finished with a 3-for-4 performance, while
Devin Rybacki chipped in with two hits and two RBI.
With its survive and advance mentality, the Panthers will take on the loser of the No. 2 UIC vs. No. 1 Wright State game at 4 p.m. (ET).
Read more at MKEPanthers.com.
Friday Schedule
12:00 p.m. ET — No. 1 Wright State vs. No. 2 UIC
4:00 p.m. ET — Loser of Wright State/UIC vs. No. 3 Milwaukee