HAMMOND, Ind. -- The Wayne State University baseball team (10-13 overall, 0-1 GLIAC) trailed Purdue Northwest (9-9 overall, 1-4 GLIAC) 7-0 through two innings on Friday before coming all the way back to lead 8-7 in the top of the 10th. However, the Pride scored two runs in the home half of that inning to walk off the Warriors, 9-8.
Down 7-0, Wayne State got on the board with a run in the third before three scores in the fifth and another trio in the seventh to make it a 7-7 ballgame.
In the 10th, the Warriors took their first lead of the day when
Gabe Zeldes (West Bloomfield, Mich. / Detroit Country Day) brought in
Bennett Hitzelberger (Richmond, Mich.) with a sacrifice fly to center field. Fast forward to the home half of the inning when the Pride's first two batters reached on a walk and double before both scored on a sacrifice fly to right.
The top four spots in the WSU lineup combined to go 9-for-16 (.523 average) while the other five went 2-for-25 (.080). Those initial four slots included
Mason McGuire (Lyon Twp., Mich. / Brighton [Mott CC]),
Jacoby Dale (Roseville, Mich. [Spring Arbor/Henry Ford CC]), Hitzelberger, and
Owen Tuccinardi (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Skyline). Hitzelberger collected a 4-for-4 day, Dale and Tuccinardi each had two hits, and McGuire was 1-for-4.
On the mound for Wayne State,
Macio Miller (Kimball, Mich. / Marysville [Jackson CC]) made the start and lasted five outs. Miller gave up seven runs, three earned, on four hits with three walks and no strikeouts.
Then, in the best outing of his career,
TJ McAllister (St. Clair Shores, Mich. / South Lake) was brilliant out of the bullpen in six and one-third innings pitched. McAllister didn't surrender a single run on just two hits with two free passes and four punchouts.
Ethan Getting (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage Northern [Purdue Northwest]) was saddled with the loss (1-1) against his former program after four outs to his name. Getting struck out the side in the ninth before his lone out in the 10th came on the game-winning sacrifice fly.
Wayne State and Purdue Northwest will lace em up for a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. eastern time.