May 17, 2009

Box Score

ADRIAN, Mich. - The final act of the 2009 season saw Adrian stumble early and then it was Wooster's Justin McDowell who kept Adrian off the scoreboard after the first inning in an 8-2 loss against the Fighting Scots in the fourth game of the regionals for the Bulldogs.

After a pair of great wins, Adrian could not seem to figure out McDowell as they totaled six hits but just one hit in the final four innings against the sophomore who has thrown 17.1 innings in the regional and picked up a pair of wins with 15 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.56.

"I felt good out there today despite just two days of rest," said McDowell. "My breaking stuff was working and I felt like I kept Adrian's hitters off balance." College of Wooster (38-9) scored twice in the top of the first as Matt Groezinger lined an RBI double down the right field line to give the Scots a 1-0 lead. Dan Welch uncorked a wild pitch with Matthew Pierce hitting and Groezinger scored from third for a 2-0 lead.

Adrian tied it up in the bottom of the first with two outs as Alex Cowart walked and Nate Sarkissian followed with a ground-rule double to put runners on second and third. Jake Cappelletty singled down the left field line to score both runners making it 2-2. It was his second and third RBI of the regional.

Wooster added two more runs in the top of the second off Welch as Adrian committed back-to-back errors to put runners on second and third with one out. Sean Karpen had an RBI groundout scoring Shane Swearingen and Luke Sutton singled home John Warren with the fourth run for the Scots.

The Scots got three more runs in the top of the fourth as Welch allowed a single and hit two batters to load the bases with one out. Alex Webster was summoned out of the bullpen and gave up back-to-back singles to Karpen and Sutton which scored the three runs to make it 7-2.

Adrian put two runners on base at second and third with one out in the fourth but Joe Dubina and Kris Powell struck out to end the threat. Adrian only got one hit the rest of the way. Webster threw well in his last outing going 5.2 innings and allowing five hits and just one earned run with one walk and one strikeout. Welch (1-1) took the loss going 3.1 innings as the starter.

Brian Bilius had the lone multi-hit game for Adrian going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. Sarkissian was 1-for-4 with his 11th double of the season and Powell also had a double for his eighth of the year. Adrian ends their season at 33-11.

Note: Jake Cappelletty and Nick Vandike were named to the All-Tournament Team.