May 12, 2012

For Immediate Release

Box score

Kingsport, Tenn. – The third-seeded Indiana Tech baseball team’s season ended Saturday afternoon following a 6-4 loss to No. 5 seed University of Saint Francis (Ill.) in an elimination game in the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round – Kingsport Bracket.

St. Francis (40-16 overall) now faces No. 1 seed Tennessee Wesleyan at 2:30 p.m. In order to advance to the AVISTA-NAIA World Series, the Saints must win twice.

The Warriors grabbed the early lead, scoring twice in the top of the first on RBI singles by Ignatius Mackenzie (Waipahu, HI/Waipahu) and Adam Crall (Churubusco, IN/Kellogg).

St. Francis scored a run in the bottom of the first to make it 2-1 before posting three in the second for a 4-2 advantage.

Not ready to bow out, Tech evened the score at 4-4 with a run in the third and another in the fourth. Senior Craig Herrmann (Ft. Worth, TX/Delta State) led off the third with a double and came around to score on a clutch two-out base hit by Mackenzie. In the fourth, junior Jake Owens (Ft. Wayne, IN/Vincennes) belted a solo home run to tie the game.

The Warriors looked as if they would take the lead in the fifth, but they had another runner gunned down at the plate.

St. Francis took the lead for good in their half of the fifth on a Brandon Mendoza sacrifice fly. The Saints tacked on an insurance run in the sixth thanks to a David Schwabe RBI single.

USF’s Corey Schultz took over from there. The Saint reliever tossed 2.2 innings of shutout ball to collect his second save of the tournament and seventh of the season. Michael Chimera collected the win to improve to 4-2.

Senior Eric Zagone (Roswell, NM/Grambling) took the loss to fall 8-4 on the season. Herrmann pushed his hitting streak to 15 games after tallying a season-high four hits going 4-for-5 at the plate with a run scored. Mackenzie ripped a pair of hits and drove in two runs while Owens and Brandon Paletta (Richardson, TX/North Texas) also collected two hits on the day, extending Paletta’s hit streak to nine games.

Indiana Tech ends a very successful year with 40-22 overall record. The Warriors reached 40 wins for the first time since 2007 and is tied for the most wins in a season since 2003.

For more information on Indiana Tech athletics please call the Athletic Office at 260-422-5561 ext. 2262 or visit our website at http://www.indianatech.edu/athletics