May 24, 2008

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APPLETON, Wis. - The Adrian College cardiac baseball club once again provided postseason drama and they made the school proud with a 7-6, 12-inning win against defending champ Kean University. The Bulldogs knocked the fourth-ranked team out of the tournament and in the process claimed their first national tournament game win.

The storyline seems to be a broken record and the Adrian faithful might just want to bring their physician to all remaining tournament games as Adrian once again trailed early only to come all the way back and claim a momumental win.

The Bulldogs allowed runs in the first four innings against a powerful Kean squad which won 39 ballgames this season and trailed 5-0 going into the bottom of the fourth inning. Adrian responded with four runs to cut the lead to 5-4. The big play in the inning was a bases clearing double by hometown product Todd Meyers who laced a pitch into the left center gap with two outs and the team down 5-1.

Senior Bobby Rickstad threw the first four innings for Adrian and was lifted after a leadoff double in the top of the fifth. Rickstad allowed nine hits, six earned runs, two walks and struck out one. Into the game came junior Nick Vandike and from there it was lights out for Kean. The inherited runner scored in the inning without the benefit of a hit and Kean led 6-4. Vandike threw the final eight innings, his longest outing of his career, and allowed just one hit with two walks and four strikeouts. He kept his team in the game and picked up his sixth win against no losses this season. He has yet to lose while playing at Adrian College.

The Bulldogs scored once in the sixth and again in the seventh to tie the game at 6-6. Andrew Anderson singled home Brian Bilius in the sixth and Bilius singled home Rickstad in the seventh to set up the extra innings.

The Bulldogs left the bases loaded in the 11th inning with one out but forgot about that and come through in the bottom of the 12th. Nick Sarkissian entered the game in the top of the 12th defensively and stepped up with a single to leadoff the inning. It was his first at-bat in nearly a month at the varsity level. Ross Tonyan entered as a pinch runner and was bunted over to second by Alexander Younce. Anderson hit a ball into left and Tonyan was held at third with one out. Meyers came to the plate and proved to be the hero as he hit a sharp liner at the shoe tops of shortstop Maikel De La Rosa who misplayed the ball and allowed the winning-run to cross home plate and send the fans into euphoria.

Meyers went 2-for-6 with three RBI's and also had six putouts and four assists in the field. Rickstad scored two runs and walked twice while going 1-for-4. Bilius batted 4-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Jake Cappelletty continued his hot tournament going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Anderson finished 3-for-5 with a run and RBI. Adrian pounded out 14 hits against three Kean hurlers. Adrian (35-12) will play the loser of Trinity/Linfield tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. eastern/3:30 p.m. central in another elimination game.