ANGOLA, IND.-- The Trine baseball team got a walk-off win in game one, but Adrian rallied to earn the split Saturday afternoon at Jannen Field.
Andrew DeGood's (Hamilton, Mich./Hamilton) walk-off RBI-single scored Jeff Phillips (Prospect, Ohio/Marion Pleasant) with the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning of game one. The Bulldogs pounded out 15 hits and Holden Branch threw a four-hit shutout to lead Adrian to the 9-0 victory in game two. The Bulldogs took three out of four games on the weekend series. Luke Porter (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) finished with two hits and an RBI at the plate, and also earned the victory in game one for the Thunder. Trine is 12-19 overall and 7-13 in the MIAA. Adrian is 23-8 overall and sits in first-place with a 17-3 league mark.
Game One: Trine 3, Adrian 2 (8)
DeGood's walk-off single capped off a pitcher's duel to give the Thunder the game one victory.
Trine got on the board first in the bottom of the first when Adam Sullivan (Fort Wayne, Ind./Elmhurst) scored from third on a double-steal in a first-and-third situation.
The Bulldogs knotted the game back up in the second when Zack Colvey drove in a run on a fielder's choice.
Phillips helped the Thunder manufacture a run in the bottom of the third. The senior led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on flyout by Jordan Baer (Fort Wayne, Ind./Leo). A clutch single by Porter brought home Phillips to make the score 2-1.
An RBI-double by Sam Fischer in the top of the fifth tied the score at 2-2.
Eddie Tomich came through with another solid start for the Thunder. The junior allowed two earned runs on eight hits, walked one and fanned five.
Porter got the Thunder out of trouble with some big pitching in the seventh. With the bases loaded and two out, Porter fanned reigning MIAA Player of the Year Dan Heatherly with a nasty off-speed pitch to keep the game tied.
Phillips and Baer singled to lead off the bottom of the eighth. After a groundout, Ethan Prebynski (Auburn, Ind./DeKalb) was intentionally walked to load the bases. That set the stage for DeGood, who singled home Phillips to give Trine the walk-off victory.
Phillips has come on strong of late, batting .500 (11-for-22) over the last seven games. He finished this weekend's series 8-for-15.
Porter picked up the victory with 1.2 innings of shutout relief.
Game Two: Adrian 9, Trine 0
The Bulldogs pounded out 15 hits and Branch turned in a solid pitching performance with the four-hit shutout.
Fischer finished a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with two RBI's and three runs scored. Fischer finished the weekend 12-for-16 with five RBI.
Mitch Stefanski added three hits and three RBI's in game two, while Ryan Dorow notched two hits and knocked in two runs.
Branch walked one and struck out two in his shutout effort. He improved to 5-0 on the season.
Trine gets a break from conference play when they travel to Indiana Tech this Tuesday, Apr. 22 for a 6:00 p.m. contest.