Eagles Complete Weekend Sweep of Findlay With Dramatic Baseball Wins
April 30, 2006

Complete Box Scores
Game 1         Game 2

The Ashland University baseball team knows how to clear the ledger and wipe out a deficit. The Eagles don’t cook the books, but they can roast a pitching staff.

Sunday (April 30) at Donges Field, the Eagles trailed Findlay, 8-1in the fifth inning before bouncing back for a 9-8 victory in the first game of a doubleheader. The Eagles followed that up by erasing a 2-1 sixth-inning Findlay lead on the way to a 3-2 win in the second game. The Sunday victories gave AU a four-game sweep of the weekend series.

Ashland is 42-10, 23-5 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. AU is in second place in the conference and hosts first place Grand Valley State next Saturday and Sunday (May 6-7) in a four-game series. That quartet of games will decide who hosts the four-team GLIAC tournament.

In Sunday’s first game, Findlay (26-23/14-13) had little trouble with AU starter Ryan Douglas. George Rohan opened the game with a homer to left and the Oilers added two runs in the second and third innings. Douglas was done after three frames, allowing five runs on seven hits.

Thom Abbott gave up three runs in 1.1 innings, but that’s when the bullpen stiffened. Junior portsider Matt Patton came on in the fifth inning and he provided 1.2 innings of scoreless relief. Justin Richards followed Patton to the hill and pitched one scoreless inning. He would eventually get the win, his first of the season.

In the middle of the game, no one outside of the AU dugout was entertaining any thoughts of a win. Findlay finished the first game with 16 hits and had baserunners parading around the bases. But the Eagles didn’t panic. They finally solved UF starter Caleb Meyer, who blanked them through three innings. AU scored once in the fourth and then exploded for three runs in the fifth. The key shot in the uprising was a bases-loaded double by second baseman Justin Randall. His two-bagger to right center cleared the bases.

In the sixth inning, AU scored three more runs. Randall brought home one run with his third double of the game and shortstop Jim Barry singled home a run. Outfielder David Waters used a ground ball to second to get another run home.

The Eagles completed their rally with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. By that time, Meyer was gone. Lefty Ian From (1-2) started the inning and walked leadoff batter Bryan Thrasher. A groundout got Thrasher to second and he came home on a ringing double off the fence in center field by catcher Ray Frisbee. With two outs, Frisbee scored the winning run when Waters bounced a ball to first base. First baseman Greg Tissot threw to second on the play, but when his throw was mishandled and rolled into the outfield, Frisbee was free to come home.

Randall finished 3-for-4 with four RBI. Frisbee was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Chad Geuy and Tissot both went 3-for-4 for the Oilers. Tissot and Kyle Blessing had a double each and both drove in two runs.

The first game took 2:46 to play. The second game moved much quicker as both pitchers – Barry and Findlay’s Chris Antonides - mowed down hitters. Barry didn’t allow a hit until Blessing singled to right with one out in the fifth inning.

Antonides allowed one run through five innings. That score came in the fourth inning when Randell tripled down the right-field line and first baseman Casey Jirsa punched a double down the left-field line to bring him home. Both hits came with two outs.

Findlay took a 2-1 lead in the sixth. Geuy and Blessing had run-scoring singles and both runs were charged to Barry. However, Geuy’s and Blessing’s hits were allowed by Josh Davidson, who was brought in with two outs.

Davidson ended up with a blown save, but he did get a win thanks to a quick recovery by the Eagles. Randall opened the sixth inning and reached on an error. Moments later, Jirsa socked his sixth homer of the season.

Findlay tried to fight back in the seventh, Brian Sampsel opening the stanza with a single. But Richie Van Hoose grounded into a double play and Davidson (13-3) fired a called third strike past Ben Shelton to end the afternoon.

Jirsa was 3-for-3 with three RBI. In addition to the homer, he hit his 19th double of the season. Blessing was 2-for-3 for UF. Antonides (3-6) went six innings and allowed three runs – two earned – on seven hits. He walked one and struck out two.