Nothing Lacking for AU in Baseball Sweep of Wayne State
April 26, 2003

On afternoons like this, it always appears as if AU head baseball coach John Schaly has more options than Webster’s has words. When the Eagles play like this, teams are often at a loss of words to describe what happened.

The Eagles have struggled lately, but on Saturday (Apr. 26) at Wayne State, the Eagles (28-15-1/15-6-1 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) were at their best. AU opened a four-game series against the Warriors by gaining a pair of wins, 9-4 and 10-2. Ashland had 20 hits on the day. In the second game, the duo of senior Jon Krugman and sophomore Ryan Douglas limited the home team to just two doubles.

In the lid-lifter, AU struck for three runs in the first inning and three more in the third. That was plenty for senior righthander Ryan Hartzell, who smoothed out his record at 5-5. Hartzell needs one more win to tie Mark Smithberger (37) as AU’s career leader in victories. The Alliance, OH, native held WSU (18-19/9-9) to four runs on seven hits. Only one of the runs he allowed was earned. He walked three and struck out 10.

AU’s first run scored when catcher Josh Gaub walked with the bases full. Then with two outs, junior third baseman Eric McDaniel dumped a single into center field to score two more runs. In the third inning, senior first baseman Chris Skibinski had a two-run single and freshman left fielder David Waters had a run-scoring single.

Waters finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBI. McDaniel was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Senior shortstop Tim Hinchliffe and junior centerfielder Brandon Cornell each had two hits. Hinchliffe, Cornell, Waters and Gaub all had doubles.

Miguel Lokuta went three innings for WSU and was tagged with the loss. He’s 2-3. First baseman Tim Baywal was 3-for-4 with two RBI.

Krugman (5-3) never pitched from behind in the second game. AU got him a run in the first, pushed across another run in the second and gave him some more room to work with two runs in the third. Krugman went 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on two hits. He walked five and struck out 11. Douglas got his team-leading third save by working the last 2 1/3 innings. He didn’t give up a run, hit or walk. He had four strikeouts.

Skibinski was 2-for-4 and rapped two doubles. Waters was 2-for-4 and scored twice and senior rightfielder Adam Whetstone was 2-for-4 with a two-bagger. Hinchliffe was 1-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.

Eric Biehl lasted 6 1/3 innings and took the loss. He’s 2-4. Frank Jeney and Adam Schulz each had a double for the Warriors.

Ashland and Wayne State will play another doubleheader Sunday (Apr. 27), beginning at noon.