XENIA, Ohio -- Kyle Zimmerman (Frankfort, Mich.) was not ready for his collegiate career to be over. The senior left-hander willed the Wayne State University baseball team (23-24-1) to a 7-4 win over Malone (28-23) on Friday afternoon. Zimmerman tossed his second career postseason complete game while throwing 165 pitches. He also put WSU on the board with a two-run home run in the top of the first inning.

"In an elimination playoff game key players need to step up and deliver," said head coach Ryan Kelley after the win. "In the 75th year of our baseball program we just witnessed arguably one of the top postseason performances in our team's history. Kyle Zimmerman delivered an amazing pitching performance. He wanted the ball the entire game and was eager to lead our team defensively. Combining a complete game pitching victory with a home run and three RBI made his performance that much more impressive. The team fed off of his leadership and played hard to earn the win. Catcher Sean Winkelseth did a great job as Zimmerman's battery mate all game long."

After a single from Nate Manis (Port Huron, Mich. / Port Huron Northern), Zimmerman staked himself to a two-run lead with his 13th career home run to left center.

In what would be a theme all day, Malone stranded three runners in the bottom of the first WSU collected two force outs at home before an unassisted putout by Manis at third base ended the frame. The home team went on to leave 13 runners on base.

An RBI triple from Brenden Wells in the bottom of the second inning gave the Pioneers their first run of the game, cutting the deficit in half.

With two outs in the top of the third inning, Aaron Loconsole (Macomb, Mich. / Marine City) singled to left center and Bradley Baldwin (Troy, Mich. / Bishop Foley Catholic) walked to bring up Zimmerman. Zimmerman gave WSU a 3-1 lead with an RBI single into center field.

Malone posted a hit in both the third and fourth innings but were unable to do any damage.

The Green & Gold broke the game open in the fifth inning with four runs on three hits and an error. Griffin Harms (Bingham Farms, Mich. / Birmingham Groves), Sean Winkelseth (Ypsilanti, Mich. ) and Manis collected RBI during the rally.

The Pioneers put two runners on in the bottom of the fifth inning but it was not until the sixth inning that Malone was able to do any damage. MU scored two runs on a hit and WSU error to trim the Warriors' lead to 7-3.

Zimmerman danced around two more singles in the seventh inning but kept the Pioneers off the scoreboard and struck out two batters in the eighth inning, which was his first and only 1-2-3 frame of the contest. He returned the hill to begin the ninth inning and after two hits to begin the inning, Kelley made his third trip to the mound to talk with his senior co-captain and the rest of the infield. WSU traded an out for a run with a sacrifice fly but a groundout to second would seal the win for WSU.

Zimmerman scattered 14 hits in his nine innings of work while allowing three earned runs, walking three and striking out four. It was Zimmerman's ninth career complete game and sixth of this season.

The Warriors advance to day three of the tournament for the seventh consecutive season as Kelley has won a GLIAC Tournament game in each of his seven seasons at the helm. WSU will play the loser of Friday's final game between Ohio Dominican and Grand Valley State at 2 PM on Saturday.