Briar Cliff 20 Wayne State 14
The Briar Cliff Chargers scored 20 runs on 20 hits to surprise Wayne State 20-14 in a non-conference baseball game at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex Tuesday afternoon in Wayne. The two teams combined for 34 runs on 32 hits including six home runs as the wind was blowing out to left field at the Pete Chapman Complex. BCU scored at least one run in eight of the nine innings played. The win makes the Chargers 11-27 overall and the loss drops the Wildcats to 15-14 on the season.
Briar Cliff jumped out to a 6-1 lead through three and a half innings, but the Wildcats scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the game at 6-6. Wendte hit his first home run of the game in the inning when he pounded the ball over the center field fence.
The Chargers responded with three runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 9-6 lead. Wayne State then took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Wildcats scored four runs to take a 10-9 lead. Nick Bidroski hit a three run homer in the inning as the junior from Omaha hit an opposite field bomb to tie the game at 9-9. John Plasha would hit into a fielder's choice that scored Jarett Jackson from third base to give WSC a 10-9 lead.
BCU scored six unanswered runs in the sixth and seventh innings to take a 15-10 lead and then added two more runs in the top of the eighth to go up 17-10. The Wildcats would respond in the bottom of the eighth inning when Wendte hit his second home run of the game as the three run shot to left field cut the WSC deficit to 17-13. The Chargers added three in the top of the ninth and Wayne State added a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to make the final score 20-14.
Wendte led the Wildcats as he went 4 for 6 with two home runs and five RBI's. Bidroski also homered and was 3 for 4 with three RBI's and two runs scored in the ball game. Jake Ritzdorf added two hits for the Wildcats. Michael Frericks (0-2) took the loss for the Wildcats who used six pitchers on the afternoon.
Andrew Benton led the way for the Chargers going 5 for 5 with a home run and five RBI's. Jacob Olivas went 4 for 5 with a home run and three RBI's. Olivas also scored five runs in the game. Sebastion Gilmore (1-4) picked up the win for BCU as Gilmore pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief to earn his first win of the season.
Wayne State will head to Augustana Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. to face the Vikings in a pair of conference games. The Wildcats will be at home this weekend as WSC hosts Northern State on Saturday and Sunday in a pair of doubleheaders slated to start at 12:00 p.m. at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex.
