DETROIT -- With his 25th career win, but first as a reliever,
Karter Fitzpatrick (Monroe, Mich. / Carleton Airport) became Wayne State University baseball's all-time leader in pitching victories on Tuesday against Tiffin. The Warriors (7-1 overall) came back from being down 8-6 to defeat the Dragons (0-5 overall) 9-8 in the 2024 home opener.
It was all Wayne State early as the home team put up a five spot in the third. That inning,
Mason McGuire (Lyon Twp., Mich. / Brighton (Mott CC)) doubled in
CJ Maury (Brampton, Ont. / Mayfield SS) and
Matthew Ferris (Toronto, Ont. / Emily Carr Secondary (Niagara County CC)) before
Bennett Hitzelberger (Richmond, Mich.) singled in McGuire. Then,
Drew Hill (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North) scored both Hitzelberger and
Tony Hatzigeorgiou (Oxford, Mich.) thanks to a two-bagger to left field.
Tiffin answered with three runs of its own in the fourth before Hatzigeorgiou stretched his team's lead back to three (6-3) with an RBI single scoring McGuire in the home half of that frame.
The Dragons proceeded to rattle off five runs in the top of the fifth, an inning that saw four different Warriors take the mound. Wayne State regained the advantage back in the seventh and did so for good.
Hatzigeorgiou and
Logan Tobel (Brighton, Mich. / Hartland) opened the rally with back-to-back walks. One out later,
Kyle Ray (Woodhaven, Mich.) made it three free passes in the first four batters to load up the bases for Ferris. The WSU designated hitter hit a routine ground ball to the shortstop who flipped it to the second baseman to begin a 6-4-3 double play that would've ended the inning, but the second baseman dropped it.
That muffed flip allowed Hatzigeorgiou to score from third. Then,
Jacoby Dale (Roseville, Mich. / Roseville (Spring Arbor/Henry Ford CC)) tied the game up at 8-8 with a sacrifice fly to left that scored Tobel and Maury singled in Ray to put Wayne State ahead for good.
Ashton Potts (Sterling Heights, Mich. / Stevenson (Kellogg CC)) made the start giving up four earned runs on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts. First out of the Bullpen,
David Thurman (Southfield, Mich. / Detroit Edison) was unable to retire a batter. Then,
Coy Plummer (New Hudson, Mich. / South Lyon) set down one in his first home outing as a Warrior.
Continuing the brilliant start to his freshman campaign,
Evan Langlois (Brownstown, Mich. / Woodhaven) threw two scoreless innings with two hits allowed, no free passes and four punchouts.
Setting the stage for Fitzpatrick, the redshirt senior came out of the bullpen for just the fourth time in his career (40th appearance). The veteran righty handled the final two and two-thirds frames, didn't walk a single batter, struck out four and faced the minimum of eight.
